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El Hadji Abdoukader Beye, a Senegalese businessman and a Muslim, takes on a third wife, thereby demonstrating his social and economic success. On the wedding night he discovers that he is incapable of consummating the marriage; he has become impotent. At the beginning, he suspects that one or both of his first two wives have put the spell on him, without realizing that he walks by the true guilty party every day (beggars and people he has stolen from). The film criticizes the African leaders' attitude after Independence, underlining their greed and their inability to step away from foreign influences.FCAT 

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The film is set in a colourful Bambara village in Burkina Faso dotted with termite mounds, and a mosque made from clay that resembles a gigantic hedgehog. The village is a symbol of green Africa, a time capsule that nonetheless is not immune to the influences of the outside and 'modern' world. Collé is the second of her husband's three wives, and is the most beloved by her husband, a temperate and calmer man than many others in the village. Her daughter, Amasatou, has become engaged, although she has not undergone female genital cutting, considered a prerequisite for marriage in the local tradition. Collé opposes this practice, which has led the elders in the village, women as well as men, to despise her daughter. Amasatou herself unceasingly requests to have her genitals cut to secure her social status and marriage acceptance, but Collé remains unmoved. She is approached by four little girls who are afraid and escape the ritual of the practice, and Collé draws a symbolic line, the colorful rope Moolaadé, a "magical protection," across the gate of the family's premises. Moolaadé prevents the women elders who carry out the practice, and who have been searching for the girls, from entering the house. In the beginning, the first wife seems to be against Collé's plan to protect the girls. However, later they become closer and she tells Collé that she also opposes female genital cutting. She feared making it known, but has been helping her all along, without anyone's notice. While facing her daughter's request to be circumcised, Collé explains that she does not want her daughter to end up on the same road she travelled. Her first reason is that it has too many indefinite outcomes, some of which can be fatal. An even bigger reason is that Collé had two unsuccessful pregnancies before Amasatou, which caused her great physical and emotional pain and were almost fatal. In a flashback, there is a scene of her and her husband having sexual intercourse which is clearly causing her physical pain. He falls asleep, while she is unable to do so because the sexual intercourse brings unbearable pain for her rather than pleasure. She keeps biting her ring finger, symbol of her marriage, and dares not say a single word even when her finger bleeds. At dawn, she is still awake to wash her body, as well as her blood off the bed sheet. As Collé represents African women who awaken to resist patriarchal control, her daughter's fiancé Ibrahima, a rich and open-minded young man living in France, returns to the village, and represents the enlightened educated abroad who returns home and observes the tradition of his village. He witnesses a funeral of two little girls, who desperately drowned themselves in a well to avoid the mutilation of their genitals. The girls' relatives are sad, but the incident does not lead the villagers to question the tradition. Ibrahima is shocked and worried by this; meanwhile, Ibrahima's father wants him to renounce his engagement to Amasatou, and marry his innocent eleven-year-old cousin instead, who has already undergone female genital cutting. Ibrahima refuses to do so, recognizing such an act as child abuse, and visits Amasatou's house despite what the villagers say. He confirms her as his fiancée, regardless of her "impure" status according to the local tradition. The African women's daily entertainment is enjoying the radio which transmits music and news of the world, which the male elders deem to be counterproductive and dangerous. The elders think that Ciré Bathiliy, Collé's husband, has lost the ability to control his own wife, so the elders insist that he beat her with a leather whip in front of the village to show that he still controls her. The elders want her to utter the word to end the moolaade, so they can take the four girls from her protection. Her husband whips her, but she endures and refuses to give her tormentors the satisfaction of a giving in. Opposite groups of men and women shout to her to revoke or to be steadfast, but no woman interferes. When she is on the verge of collapse, a merchant steps out and stops the whipping. The womanizing merchant is called Mercenaire by people in the village. He is a war veteran who has become a travelling merchant after being discharged from the army after he accused his superiors of corruption. When he converses with Ibrahima, he accuses him, his father, and his uncle of pedophilia and is suddenly no longer concerned about the money that he could possibly get from the rich young man. He is bringing all the plastic junk to the village; the junk is brightly and boldly colored as the magnificent costumes the people wear in Africa. He sells his wares at extremely high prices. Later he is hunted out of the village and, when out of sight, murdered. During the whipping, one of the four girls' mother steals her daughter from Collé's house and sends her to get her genitals cut, although the little girl screams and tries to resist. The girl dies as a result of the cutting and her mother regrets her previous support of the practice. The other mothers all see the tragedy happen and thus change their minds and begin opposing genital cutting. This persuades Collé to revoke the protection and return the children to their parents. From the men's point of view, the radio is a bad influence on the women because it teaches them things from the outside world, such as the idea of equality or how excision isn't truly necessary. Therefore, the elders decide to burn the radios that they confiscated earlier. Although all the radios are supposed to be burned, some are hidden by the women of the village. The women are united because of the pain caused by the genital cutting. They are all mourning, they are all awakened, and when the elders return, they are greeted with shouts of, "No more genital cutting!". Collé demands that the women give up their knives, which she then carries to the elders, proclaiming that genital cutting is now a thing of the past. After her demonstration, Ibrahima stands up to his father, says he is not going to listen to him, and despite his threats to disown him (which is quite foolish seeing how Ibrahima is the family's breadwinner) announces that he is going to marry Amasatou because he is proud of her. The end of the movie is the smoke of the burning radios, which speaks both to speaking out and repression of speech. 

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A spoiled, young queen asks for the impossible during a cold winter and requests for a bouquet of Galanthus, a spring wildflower, for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward of gold. One greedy woman desires to collect the bounty and instead of sending her own daughter, readily sends her young stepdaughter, Anja, to look for the white-blossomed flowers in the deep forest during a night snowstorm despite knowing the task will be impossible. Despite refusing, Anja is cast into the blizzard by her stepmother and in the barren forest, falls unconscious from the freezing cold. Later, she is awoken and is drawn to a light in the distance from a mysterious bonfire, surrounded by spirits whom reveal themselves as the Twelve Months. Learning of her task, the twelve spirits take pity on Anja. They use their powers to temporarily bring spring to allow the flowers to grow and be collected but requests no one is to know how and where she obtained the Galanthus. A grateful Anja returns home with the requested flowers and the bouquet is presented to the Queen by her stepmother and stepsister. However, the dissatisfied queen wishes to see where the flowers grow for herself. 

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Roy Alston (Maxwell Caulfield) and Bo Richards (Charlie Sheen) are two outcasts of their high school community. Bo receives $200 as a graduation gift from his grandparents. Facing a lifetime of working blue collar factory jobs, the boys spontaneously decide to use the money to go on a vacation to Los Angeles. During the drive to Los Angeles, Bo and Roy rob a gas station and beat the attendant (Joseph Michael Cala) with a crowbar. The next day, the boys go to a beach boardwalk, where Roy throws an empty beer bottle and it hits an elderly woman (Helen Brown) on the forehead. Three young women (Claudia Templeton, Mary Tiffany, and Marilou Conway) see this, and they chase Bo and Roy to a parking lot. The women yell at the boys and damage their car. Enraged, Roy starts the car and drives around in circles in the parking lot with the women still on the hood. After several loops, Roy throws the car into reverse, throwing one of the women from the hood of the car. After the incident, one of the women finds Bo and Roy's dog, Boner the Barbarian, and reads its ID tag, which leads to speculation of where Bo and Roy are from. During a visit to La Brea Tar Pits, Bo expresses his wish that the world could just "go caveman" for one day, abandoning all rules and order. Roy agrees, and they spend their evening on the streets of Los Angeles. Several additional encounters lead to more deaths, including a gay man Chris (Paul C. Dancer), a young couple (Richard Pachorek and Lesa Lee), and an older woman Angie Baker (Patti D'Arbanville) whom Roy kills while she is having sex with Bo. Eventually the duo are tracked and found by the LAPD and chased into a shopping mall. After unsuccessfully trying to steal some guns, Bo tries to talk some sense into Roy about surrendering. Roy refuses, and he orders Bo to give him the gun so he can go out in a "blaze of glory". Bo refuses and shoots Roy when he tries to take the gun away. The police surround Bo and ask him why he killed his friend. Bo replies, "Because I had to." Bo is then arrested and led away while reporters snap photos of him. 

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At Christmas time, New York restaurant manager Bill Firpo's (Nicolas Cage) brothers Dave (Jon Lovitz) and Alvin (Dana Carvey) are paroled early and placed in Bill's custody. Dave and Alvin ask Bill to take them to Paradise, Pennsylvania to do a favor for a fellow inmate of theirs. Bill refuses as his brothers are not allowed out of the state and he knows Dave's pathological tendencies. He only agrees after getting linked to a robbery his brothers committed. When they discover Paradise's bank is light on security, Bill feels the urge to rob it if he had a gun. There are guns in the car Dave and Alvin borrowed. With Alvin driving a stolen car, Bill and Dave storm the bank in ski-masks. The bank president's wife (Angela Paton) tells them that the bank safe door is locked and the president, Mr. Clifford Anderson (Donald Moffat), is on lunch. While Dave stays in the bank, Alvin and Bill charge into the restaurant, taking Mr. Anderson and the restaurant patrons back to the bank. Bill and Dave gain access to the vault and soon rush out of the bank with $275,000, with Alvin driving the getaway car. While trying to get out of town, Alvin gets them lost. A police car turns on the sirens and they try to evade getting caught. Because of slick roads, they drive over a bridge. The police officer does not see them crash and drives past the bridge, but another car stops and offers them a ride. Due to the interstates being closed, the man takes them to his relatives. Upon arriving at the house, they find out it is the house of the bank president Mr. Anderson. However, the relatives don't recognize them. Vic Mazzucci (Vic Manni), the inmate who gave Dave and Alvin the tip about the low security of the bank, gets enraged that they robbed the bank and busts out of jail. He and his henchman, Caesar, take the Firpoes' mother, Edna (Florence Stanley) hostage, and threatens to kill her unless they give him the stolen money. Bill gets bus tickets, and while getting out, the FBI asks him to open the bag he is carrying with him, which contains all of the money. The bag is grabbed by Ed Dawson (John Ashton) and Clovis Minor (John Bergantine), two inept shopkeepers, made "deputies" by the local police chief. Bill tricks the FBI by shooting rounds from Ed's gun in the ground making the crowd run around and gets away with his bag. However, they miss their bus. They then try to get away via canoe. The canoe is headed towards a waterfall and Alvin falls into the water. A nearby family pulls Alvin out of water and saves him with CPR. Alvin then steals a horse carriage from the police chief's son, Timmy. The feds chase the carriage, but after they drive into the forest the police cars are unable to continue the chase. They ditch the horse carriage and decide to hitchhike. However, the horse, Merlin, and the carriage get pulled into the water, causing the brothers to save him and go to a truck stop instead. There, Bill and Alvin decide to return the money to the bank while Dave refuses, knowing that their mother would be killed if they do so (Bill and Alvin are unaware of this). Alvin then reveals to Bill he is not wanted in New York and that they scammed him. Upset, Bill leaves his two brothers, then heads off to return the money and asks strangers for a ride to Paradise. By coincidence, he winds up getting a ride with Vic and Caesar, who are holding his mother hostage in the trunk. Bill shows them his mother's picture, whereupon Vic tries to shoot him so he can get the money Bill has in the bag. Bill jumps out of the car and escapes, rescued by Dave, Alvin and Merlin. They try to get the money back into the bank but trigger the alarm. They then give the money to a church with a letter requesting to return it to the town's people. Trying to get away, Ed and Clovis (who had sold the Firpoes the ski masks before the robbery) recognize them and want the money for themselves. Ed and Clovis grab the brothers and take them to the Anderson house, while followed by the police. Vic and Caesar are holding the Andersons hostage, along with Timmy, Edna and Sarah (Mädchen Amick), Vic's daughter and a tenant of the family. Upon entering, Ed gets knocked out, while Clovis and the Firpoes are also taken hostage. The police see the license plates on the car in front of the Anderson house are from a stolen car, and therefore order Vic and Caesar to come out with their hands held up. While the inmates are busy figuring out what to do, they get attacked by Timmy, who immobilizes Caesar and shoots Vic. The police rush into the house and take everyone to the office. There, FBI agent Shaddus Peyser (Richard Jenkins) tries to figure out what happened, and because the town's people hide what they know about Bill, Alvin, and Dave and the church pastor returns the money to the police, they release them. Bill stays in Paradise to be with Sarah, while Alvin and Dave return with their mother to New York. 

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Susan visits Mike at the hospital, only to find him and Edie having sex. Susan is doing yardwork when Ian comes to her door. She tries to hide from him on the opposite side of her car visible to him. Mrs. McCluskey comes along and loudly says “hi” to Susan, revealing to Ian that Susan's there. Susan does not want to continue their relationship, but Ian, with no strings attached, invites her to his party, and she could even bring a date if she wanted. Later that day, Susan, Lynette, and Gabrielle are sitting on Lynette's porch, drinking margaritas. A taxi comes along to pick up Ida Greenberg. Susan says she's Ida, and hops into the taxi. The taxi takes her to Ian's house, where his party is taking place. Ian is suspicious Susan is drunk. She goes into the bathroom and loudly vomits, causing a scene at the formal party. Ian takes her home, and Susan wakes up the next morning to find that he spent the night with her. Ian tells her that while she was drunk, she said she loved him. He asks her if that was Susan or the booze talking. She says it was Susan. Mike is visited by two detectives, who have questions about Monique Polier's murder. Since her teeth have been pulled out and they can't get any dental records, they don't know who the dead woman is. Mike is shown a photo of Monique, and he does not recognize her. The detectives are still suspicious, because they know he killed a cop once. Carlos and Gabrielle are meeting with their respective lawyers separating their assets when Carlos says he is tired of squabbling over property and tells his lawyer Gabrielle can have whatever she wants. Gabrielle's lawyer, Mr. Katzburg, is happy, but Gabrielle knows that Carlos never gives up, so he's up to something. She is suspicious when Carlos comes home with a stack of papers and locks them in a drawer. While he is in the shower, Gabrielle sneaks into the bathroom, takes the key to the drawer out of his pant pocket, opens the drawer, and finds out that they are business papers. Carlos is getting a new job, and he's being paid $2 million. Gabrielle asks Mr. Katzburg if she can get some of that money in the divorce, and he says only if he has the money when they get divorced. Gabrielle decides to stall their divorce and successfully seduces Carlos. She tells him that they should re-consider getting a divorce. Of course, she only wants to stall the divorce for Carlos's money. Carlos laughs and tells her the papers were fake. It was an experiment to see if Gabrielle would seduce him because she wanted the money. He says it's a payback for her sleeping with that one other guy. Gabrielle is infuriated, and subconsciously pushes him out of the window. She looks down and sees several cuts on his body. She panics and calls 9-1-1. She looks out the window again, and Carlos is gone. She hears the door open. When she goes to the front door, Carlos is seething, and he tells her that because of this, there is a zero percent chance that they will get back together. Bree is doing housework when there is a knock on the door. She answers, and it is Carolyn and her husband, Harvey. Harvey makes her apologize to Bree about all the stuff she told her about Orson. Bree forgives her and gives her the classic Bree smile. When Bree is playing tennis at the country club, she is being snubbed by her friends. When she says “hi” to Tish, Tish completely ignores her. The only friend who is still talking to Bree, Rebecca, tells her that Tish is a good friend of Carolyn's, and she's being snubbed because she went ahead and married Orson despite of what she told her. Bree decides to fix this problem by ordering a table in the center of the restaurant. Orson and Bree go on a double date with Harvey and Carolyn, so Bree can show her friends she and Carolyn get along. The double date goes well, and everyone is talking to Bree again. During the double date, Carolyn goes to the restroom and asks Bree to accompany her. She does, and Carolyn asks if she would like to see a picture of Alma, Orson's first wife. She agrees, so Carolyn shows her a picture of a bruised up Alma and claims that Orson assaulted her. Bree is shocked. While the women are in the restroom, Harvey confides in Orson that he had an affair with a woman named Monique. Orson is shocked, and he asks Harvey “Monique who?” Harvey says it was Monique Polier, the same woman who was dug up. Orson is shocked. Tom shows Lynette the pizzeria. Lynette is upset to find out what a dump it is, but even more so when she finds out that Tom already signed a lease without consulting her. Lynette is furious, so she tells him to stay away from home for a few days. The kids are upset when they haven't seen their father in a while, and Lynette tells them the truth. When Kayla hears of this, she tells Nora. Nora is happy that her plan to sow discord between the Scavos is being successful and decides to take action. Nora drops by the pizzeria and has dinner with Tom, including wine. She kisses him, but Tom steps back and tells her that he's in love with Lynette. In a huff, Nora leaves. Tom goes back to Lynette and apologizes. Lynette apologizes back and takes him back. Tom tells her about Nora trying to make out with him, and Lynette storms into Nora's house via kicking the door open. She is just about to beat Nora up when a scared Kayla enters the room. Lynette smiles and softly tells her to go back to her room and play, but Nora firmly orders her to stay where she is. Kayla is terrified and confused over whom to listen to. Lynette decides to leave. When she gives Nora a hug as a play for Kayla, she whispers in her ear that she is now deprived from contact with her family. All she will do from now on is just drop Kayla off and drive away. If she ever sees Tom again, Lynette will “do the exact same to her spine as what she did to her front door”. Detective Ridley gets an anonymous phone call from Orson. He learns that the woman is Monique Polier, and that Harvey Bigsby had an affair with her. While Harvey is doing yardwork, he is visited by Detective Ridley. He shows Harvey a picture of Monique, tells her she's been murdered, and Harvey starts crying. He asks to take this conversation elsewhere, and Detective Ridley agrees. When Carolyn sees Detective Ridley showing Harvey the picture of the red-head, she knew her husband was up to no good. Mike is in the hospital when Edie comes in wearing a sexy dress. Suddenly, Mike remembers a red-headed woman wearing a very similar outfit, leading him to believe he once knew Monique. 

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Every once in a rare while, the most perfect of 'perfect' matches ('supercouples, of 100% compatibility) is located. Then tragedy suddenly strikes. One of the "supercouples" is found dead in their Arizona home, an "unquestionable" double suicide. Child's analysis of the topic proves a useful tool to opine on the topics of psychology, relationships, cutting-edge computer technology and artificial intelligence. Category:2004 American novels Category:American science fiction novels Category:American horror novels Category:Novels by Lincoln Child Category:2004 science fiction novels Category:Novels set in Arizona Category:Novels about artificial intelligence 

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Keroro skips out on destroying military planes in a simulated reality in favor of buying the newest Gundam model with Fuyuki. As they head home, they encounter a mystery shrine resembling a space fort. As Keroro prepares to give a monetary offering, he accidentally drops a 100-yen coin into the shrine, forcing him and Fuyuki to go after it. Inside the shrine is a prehistoric-looking jungle, where Fuyuki finds an ancient dome and a small glass container, inside it a glowing orb. As Keroro triumphantly finds his coin, he knocks over the container, which breaks, causing the orb to shine wildly. After Keroro attempts to fix the container with rubber cement, the duo dashes out of the shrine and toward home, leaving the remaining piece of the container to transform into a pink As Keroro builds his new GM Sniper Custom model, he discovers a small red X on his face. He goes to both Fuyuki and Natsumi to tell them about his dilemma, but neither of them are of any help. That night, a menacing white Keronian appears from the mystery shrine, and gives numerous Earthlings the same red X. The next day, it is discovered that anyone who possesses this red mark gains telepathic powers named "Revocommi", allowing them to communicate with their minds. The X mark is also contagious: it can be spread from one person to another, allowing other people to become Revolutor. Keroro then orders Kururu to create an amplifying device, planning to use his new power to send amplified orders to the Revolutor of Earth, putting them under his control. That night, the white Keronian (who has taken residence on a tower) sends out a strange signal. The next day, everyone has become depressed, this is because the Revolutor can sense each other's malicious thoughts, they're avoiding others, and begin to withdraw from society. What's more, because of telepathy, there's no need for cops, TV broadcasts, Internet, or cell phones, and the entire city shuts down. That night, strange green orbs emerge from the Revolutor's marks, and are fed to the white Keronian. On the same night, as Keroro's order-magnifying helmet is completed, the pink Keronian arrives in a gigantic Keronian statue. The Keronian introduces herself as Mirara, the Keron Army's ancient weapon researcher. She is fascinated by Keroro's helmet, but is frightened to see the X symbol on everyone, and tells them a story: The red X is a part of the Keronian weapon named Kiruru, which was sealed away in a vase by the Keron Army. It grows and multiplies from people's conflicts, pain, worries, and negative mental energy, after which it destroys the planet. The only thing that can reseal Kiruru is strong friendship and a heart of trust, but when Mirara reminds the group that invaders and invadees are sworn enemies, more negative energy is produced and Kiruru grows stronger. She turns to Momoka and Tamama for help, but only ends up causing the same problem. Having absorbed everyone's malicious thoughts, Kiruru transforms into a monster and rampages through the city. The Keroro Platoon decides to take matters into their own hands and send Giroro and Tamama to attack Kiruru, but even their most powerful attacks fail to put a scratch on Kiruru. Seeing no other alternative, Keroro dons the helmet, intending to enlarge himself and send orders to Kiruru. But when that fails, he decides to stall Kiruru while Fuyuki, Natsumi, and Giroro head for the mystery shrine and figure out a way to stop Kiruru. Back at the mystery shrine, Fuyuki and Natsumi discover that it was Kiruru that destroyed the dinosaurs, and when Kiruru absorbs enough dark emotions, he starts multiplying, and only Mirara can stop Kiruru. Keroro finally admits defeat to Kiruru, who then absorbs his energy, transforming into a large tower. Keroro returns to see the Hinata household (and all of his Gunpla) in ruins. The good memories Keroro and Fuyuki share together cause the red X on their heads to disappear. Mirara appears and gives the group red circles, after which she transforms into a key, which will seal Kiruru if it is inserted into the gigantic X on the tower. Using Mirara's Keronian statue as a mode of transportation, Keroro and Fuyuki are close to approaching the tower, but as soon as they come into close proximity, Kiruru starts to clone himself and chases after them. The statue crash lands, leaving the others to take care of the situation. Keroro and Fuyuki find a new mode of transportation in the form of Mutsumi's giant paper airplane, but the Kirurus continue to multiply. After the key continuously switches between owners, Kululu finally tosses it towards the X, which is shielded by a barrier. The barrier is broken when Giroro flies his mech into it. Natsumi and Giroro hold off the Kirurus while Fuyuki and Keroro go inside the tower. After a long stairway, the duo find a gigantic glass vase with a key-shaped slot. They finally seal away Kiruru, and the Kiruru Tower disappears in a brilliant yellow light, along with everyone's red X. 

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Tenchi Academy is an all-girls school that teaches regular classes as well as "Sword Arts". In Sword Arts, students attempt to perfect their combat skills by dueling each other. There are also , where students form a partnership with another and defeat other pairs to win rank and stars. There are 174 teams (348 students) that fight under the Hoshitori system. The administrator (also the student council president) of the school will give money to those with more stars, saying that "any wish will be granted, if you have enough stars." Nagi Kurogane is a sword scholarship student of Tenchi Academy. However, she cannot go to school because she is undergoing rehabilitation. Therefore, her twin little sister, Hayate, disguises herself as Nagi to go to the school. In the school, the scholarship student must fight against other scholarship students to win higher ranks. But because Hayate's only interest is how to pretend to be Nagi, she is not interested in the mandatory fights. However, knowing that her old orphanage is in eight million yen in debt, and is being harassed by collectors, Hayate resolves her mind to take part in the fights. The participant gets 50,000 yen if she wins a bout, and she gets one million yen if she enters the next rank. Since each participant must have her partner, Hayate asks Ayana Mudō to be her partner. Ayana is a talented swordsman, but she does not take part in the fighting because of her personal reasons. At first, Ayana thinks Hayate is annoying, but in order to face her ex-partner whom Ayana injured during the duels, she cooperates with Hayate. 

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The story, narrated by the thief Satampra Zeiros, is said to be written with his left hand, for he no longer has his right hand. A native of the city of Uzuldaroum, Zeiros and his companion Tirouv Ompallios together journey in search of treasure in the long-abandoned and overgrown former capital city of Hyperborea, Commoriom. Entering an ancient temple of the god Tsathoggua, they are disappointed to discover that the statue of the deity is carved from stone and has no inserted jewels. Meanwhile, from within a vast basin beneath the idol, a flowing protoplasmic entity soon emerges, puts forth a head and limbs, and chases the men through the jungles. Eventually, they find they have run in a circle and have returned to the temple. They enter and barricade the doors. However, the entity flows in through some high apertures and threatens the thieves once again. Zeiros hides behind the statue of the god, while Ompallios clambers into the basin. Suddenly, the entity flows in from above Ompallios, and silently devours him. Zeiros attempts escape but the entity throws out a limb which encircles his right wrist, and in escaping the temple, Zeiros loses his right hand. 

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The film opens with John (Jonathan Wade Drahos) regaining consciousness in a restroom stall at "The Red Party." He stares at himself in the mirror and flashes back to when he was a small-town cop from Illinois who moved to Los Angeles, hoping to find a more welcoming environment. He temporarily moves in with his cousin Tad (Daniel Kucan), who is living with his suddenly ex-boyfriend Gill (Brian Lane Green) and Tad's new boyfriend Julian (Darryl Stephens). Tad is a filmmaker, shooting a documentary on circuit parties and Julian DJs at the parties. Gill takes John to a party in the Hollywood hills, where he meets Hector (Andre Khabbazi), a hustler who is battling mounting insecurities over his looks and age as he is about to turn 30. John and Hector forge a friendship and Hector introduces John to the world of circuit parties and illicit drugs. One of Tad's subjects is Bobby (Paul Lekakis), an exotic dancer and model who performs at circuit parties (and with whom coincidentally John tricked at a party). Bobby is HIV-positive but asymptomatic. Tad records Bobby's performance at a club. Also performing at the club, as a comedian, is Nina (Kiersten Warren), who coincidentally is a friend of John's. She is living out of her car so John invites her and her cat to stay with him in his new trailer. Tad shows his footage of Bobby to Gino (William Katt), who is an investor, to secure the funding to finish the film. Gino is involved in a number of business ventures, including running circuit parties with his wife Louise (Nancy Allen), distributing drugs and buying viatical settlements, including Bobby's. Gino offers Tad half the money he needs. After viewing the footage Gino angrily confronts Bobby, who remarks that Gino gambled by buying his insurance policy and lost. John follows Hector deeper into circuit scene, using a variety of drugs including Special K, GHB, cocaine, crystal meth and, suffering from body dysmorphia despite being in terrific physical shape, anabolic steroids. Gill has grown tired of Tad and Julian living with him and gives them a deadline for moving out. Initially he agrees to let them stay until after the White Party so Julian can earn rent money and Tad can finish his film but then decides he wants them out sooner. Desperate, Tad returns to Gino for more financing. Gino refuses. Louise, growing more disgusted with Gino, later secretly gives Tad the money. Gino becomes obsessed with Bobby and plans to kill him. He offers to pay Hector to sleep with Bobby and slip Bobby poisoned drugs. John begins working security for Gino's parties (which is largely an excuse for his own partying). One such party is The Red Party, where John runs into a drag queen who remembers him from his small town days. This reminder of his past nearly sends John over the edge, leading to the drug binge which lands him on the stall floor. Gill and Nina realize John is in trouble but are not able to help him. John goes so far as to prostitute himself, joining Hector for a scene in which they have sex while a client watches. John, disgusted with himself, argues with Hector and refuses to take his cut of the fee. Eventually Nina moves out after John, in a drug-induced rage, attacks her cat. John tries to seduce Gill, who refuses him because of his heavy partying and drug abuse. John reduces his partying and drug use and goes to Gill for a job with his landscaping business. He and Gill also pursue a romantic relationship, but John, having stopped his steroid use, can't perform sexually because his body feels "soft." He returns to Hector for more "juice." It is the weekend of the annual Palm Springs White Party. Gino has provided Hector, who has become more terrified about losing his youth and looks, with the poisoned drugs. Tad is going to the party to record the last footage he needs to complete his documentary, including Bobby's farewell performance. Julian is DJing. John is going to supervise security. He and Hector travel by limousine and they reconcile. After giving John his headphones to listen to a song, Hector confesses that he loves him. Gino and Louise are also at the party and amidst the chaos Louise leaves him. After Bobby's farewell performance, Hector goes to his room and they have sex for most of the night. When they're spent, Bobby says to Hector, "you saved my life tonight." Hector replies, "More than you'll ever know" and ingests the poisoned drugs. He dies, on his 30th birthday. The next morning, Bobby discovers that Hector is dead. John, on his way to find Hector, runs into Gino outside the room, who says how sorry he is about Bobby's death, but trails off when Bobby walks out of the room. John looks in and sees Hector's body. He realizes Gino is involved and starts to attacks him, then, shattered by grief, runs off weeping. Six months later, John and Gill (still dating), Nina, Tad, Bobby, Louise, and others gather for the premiere of Tad's documentary. 

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The story is set during an alternate history version of the Napoleonic Wars, in which dragons not only exist but are used as a staple of aerial warfare in Asia and Europe. The dragons are portrayed as sapient and intelligent, capable of logical thought and human speech. The series centers on events involving Temeraire (the titular dragon) and his handler, William Laurence. The first book of the series centered on how Laurence, formerly a Captain in the Royal Navy, becomes Temeraire's handler, and their early training in preparation for battles against Napoleon's aerial fleet. 

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The story begins with the narrator describing the effects of opium and the fantastical vistas it can inspire. The narrator then tells of his sole experience with opium in which he was accidentally administered an overdose by a doctor during the "year of the plague". After a disembodied sensation of falling, the narrator finds himself within a strange beautiful room containing exotic furniture, where a pounding sound from outside inspires an inexplicable sense of dread within the narrator. Determined to identify the origin of this sound, the narrator moves towards a window and observes a terrifying scene of fifty-foot waves and seething vortex consuming the shoreline at an incredible rate. Sensing imminent danger, the narrator quickly exits the building. Fleeing the waves, the narrator travels inland. The narrator eventually arrives in a valley with tropical grass extending above his head and a great palm tree in the center. Driven by curiosity despite his fear, the narrator crawls on his hands and knees toward the great palm. Soon after arriving at the tree, the narrator observes an angelic child fall from its branches. The child then smiles and extends its hand towards the narrator and the narrator hears ethereal singing within the upper air followed by the child saying in an otherworldly voice: As the child speaks, the narrator observes two youths emerging from the leaves of the tree. They take the narrator by the hand and describe the worlds of "Teloe" and "Cytharion of the Seven Suns" which lie beyond the Milky Way. As they speak, the narrator observes that he is floating in the upper atmosphere, with the palm tree far below, and now accompanied by an ever increasing number of singing, vine-crowned youths. As they ascend, the child tells the narrator that he must always look upward and never down at the earth below. As he rises further listening to the youths singing, the narrator is disturbed by the return of the sound of the waves, and, forgetting what the child said, looks downward and observes a sight of global destruction, with the waves consuming the cities until there is nothing left. This is followed by the waters draining into the Earth's core via an opening gulf, which causes the Earth to explode. 

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Hayato's home city is under attack from a gigantic robot. His parents are lying dead in the rubble and the only remaining friend is his dog. His only thought now is revenge against the owner of the Phantom Ship (from where the robot said he was sent). He ends up in the house of Kuroshio, the leader of the fight against the Phantom Ship and the most important person in the city. By complete accident, Hayato finds his way to an underground passageway where he realizes that the true nature of events does not mesh with what Kuroshio has told him. His life is now in great danger, and only he can stop the plans of the evildoers. 

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The story could be said to start in medias res, that is, in the middle of an action. Apparently there has been a conversation between the Prince and the Chamberlain, who does not agree to the Prince's proposal. We soon learn that the Prince wants to place a guard in the tomb of his ancestors, this in addition to the warden in the park above the tomb. The Warden is brought in, hesitant to speak in front of the Chamberlain. The Chamberlain exits and the old warden reveals to the Prince the nature of his work and his current struggles with one Duke Friedrich, who calls to his window at the hour of midnight. The Warden also speaks of a Countess Isabella, who wishes to go out of the park to offer the Prince her hand, and when the Prince ponders this a servant enters to announce that the Princess awaits him. When the Prince exits, the Chamberlain and Steward enter the room. At this action, the warden tries to hide under a divan. The Steward speaks of the state of the Court, that the Prince has a dual nature and that the situation is desperate, apparently in attempts to convince the Chamberlain that he'd better not follow the Prince down the wrong track.* Kafka, Franz. The Warden of the Tomb. Trans. James McPherson Ritchie and H.F. Garten. In Seven Expressionist Plays. Ed. James McPherson Ritchie. German Expressionism Ser. London: John Calder; Dallas: Riverrun, 1980. . p.49-77. 

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Pother Kanta starts off like many of the Byomkesh Bakshi novels while Ajit and Byomkesh are having a conversation in the living room of their Harrison Road flat. Byomkesh has noticed a rather unusual advertisement hidden away in the classifieds section of the Dainik Kalketu daily with the heading Pother Kanta (Thorn of the Road). Translated the ad reads, "If anyone wants to remove the Thorn of the Road, stand next to and hold on to the lamp-post on the southwest corner of the Whiteway-Ladley store on Saturday evening at 5:30." Byomkesh had noticed this peculiar ad being published without fail every Friday for the previous three months. Byomkesh immediately inferred that the person posting the add went to great pains to remain anonymous and chose this cryptic message on purpose. He also selected a meeting place in the centre of Hogg's Market in Calcutta at a very busy time of the day, so that he could pass by the responder without being detected. Byomkesh guessed that the advertiser would probably want to slip something into the responder's pocket, perhaps some instructions, and would want to accomplish this without being detected. Ajit argued that all of this was circumstantial evidence at best and challenged Byomkesh to prove it, a challenge that Byomkesh heartily accepted. All this light banter was interrupted by the entrance of a podgy, middle-aged man who introduced himself as Ashutosh Mitra, a single businessman by profession, and a resident of Nebutola. He had come to seek Byomkesh's service with respect to the gramophone pin mystery. Ajit describes the mystery in detail for the benefit of the reader. Basically, metropolitan Calcutta had been plagued recently by the murders of quite a few influential businessmen who had all been killed by being shot with what resembled an Edison gramophone pin embedded in their hearts. All these individuals had been killed in busy areas of Calcutta in broad daylight while crossing the street. There were no witnesses to any of the crimes and no one had reported hearing anything unusual as would be expected from the release of a projectile from a firearm. The police had been frantically trying to nab the murderer or murderers and had even cordoned off and searched all pedestrians and motorists in the area of a crime immediately after an attack, but were unsuccessful in getting any leads. The police had started to arrest anyone who they suspected might have a motive, but still the murders continued. Calcutta was gripped in a spell of panic. Ashutosh Mitra himself had been the subject of an attack the previous day but his pocket watch which he wore close to his chest had saved him from a death. Since he had lost his faith in the police, he approached Byomkesh, and pleaded with him to save his life. Byomkesh interrogated him and discovered that he had no children, but a nephew who was an alcoholic currently imprisoned for rowdiness. He did have a living will but he politely refused to state who his successor would be, apart from stating that it was not his cousin. Byomkesh took the broken watch and examined it and came to the conclusion that it was broken beyond repair, that the assailant must have fired from no more than 7-8 yards and that he was most likely alone since it is quite unlikely that more than one person would have developed such an acute sense of accuracy. Byomkesh inquired if Mr. Mitra had heard anything when he was attacked to which he replied that he had not, apart from the usual humdrum of midday traffic. Byomkesh noted that all those attacked had been attacked while crossing the street. He also noted a strange coincidence; all the attacked had been successful businessmen with no children to succeed them. On spying on Mr. Mitra that afternoon, Byomkesh learned that he had a mistress, quite pretty according to his account, who lived in a separate house. This woman was accomplished as a musician, but relied solely on Mr. Mitra for living expenses. Unknown to Mr. Mitra, she, had a younger, more handsome lover, who as it turns out, was Mr. Mitra's lawyer. In the evening it was time for Byomkesh and Ajit to pursue the mysterious Pother kanta advertiser. Ajit was sent out in disguise and Byomkesh followed him but maintained a safe distance. Ajit arrived at the designated spot and waited but nothing happened. On his way back he was accosted by a beggar who handed him an envelope. As Ajit was looking at its contents, the beggar left the scene. Ajit them took a roundabout way on his way back home. Byomkesh remarked that inside the envelope was the letter he had been expecting but since Ajit had been searching his own pockets incessantly, the advertiser had waited until he left the scene. did Inside was a letter with the message that when translated would read, "Who is your Thorn of the road? What is his name and address? Clearly state what you want. Next time we'll meet at midnight. Please come alone to the Khiddirpore Road and walk along it. A man on a bicycle will come and take your written responses from you." The very next day a devastated Mr. Mitra arrived and told Byomkesh that his mistress had eloped with his lawyer with all the money that the lawyer could get his hands on. After consoling Mr. Mitra, Byomkesh advised him to go home and to not worry about being attacked again since he believed he was safe now. After Mr. Mitra left, Byomkesh told Ajit that he was responsible for warning the lawyer and the law enforcement officials. He mentioned in passing that he believed that the lawyer and the mistress had conspired to get Mr. Mitra killed by responding to the Pather kanta ad. He had expected the lawyer to elope with his lover and the Burdwan police had nabbed then while en route to escaping. The next morning a certain Mr. Prafulla Roy arrived at their doorstep. He said he was an insurance agent currently in trouble, and he had responded to the Pather kanta ad. He asked Byomkesh whether or not he should pursue it or call the police. To this Byomkesh reacted violently and said he never collaborated with the police and if Mr Roy wanted the police's help he would get none from Byomkesh. The meeting between Ajit and the advertiser was set up to proceed. However, both Ajit and Byomkesh had thick porcelain plates fastened to their chests before heading out for the denoted destination. At the mentioned time while Ajit was on the street he heard the bell of a passing bicycle coming from the opposite direction and immediately fell to the ground. However, the plate had saved his life. Byomkesh jumped on the assailant and thus his sting operation was successful in nabbing the culprit who was none other than Prafulla Roy. But before the police arrived, he was successful in committing suicide by eating a poisoned betel leaf. His only regret before dying was that he had not taken Byomkesh more seriously and had thus fallen prey to the trap Byomkesh had set for him. Byomkesh was awarded by the Metropolitan Police and received a check for two thousand rupees from Mr Mitra. However, he did have to relinquish the bicycle bell which had a spring action mechanism for shooting the gramophone pins while masking the noise with the ringing of the bell. 

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The movie is about a nun, whose life is upended when she is handed an abandoned infant in a park. She takes the baby to the hospital and proceeds to track down the mother. Along the way she meets the owner of a dry cleaning business, whose sweater was wrapped around the baby. 

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Papa Chance is a former MLB pitcher who has settled down with his wife in the mill town of Camas, Washington. They have six children. Everett Chance, the eldest, is a natural politician and powerful speaker whose passionate opposition to the Vietnam war creates much of the family tension in the book. He spends much time and effort pursuing a young Russian literature student named Natasha and finally wins her heart from draft exile in British Columbia by sending her an epic letter/novel. Everett does not have great natural athletic gifts but is a scrappy competitor. Second oldest, Peter Chance, is the intellectual brother who will study at Harvard and then in India. Though a natural athlete, Peter spends most of the book having renounced gifts of the body in his dogged pursuit of spiritual growth. After being kidnapped by con artists on an Indian train he finds enlightenment and he returns to the family in their hour of need. Irwin is an innocent, possessing a childlike devotion to faith. He is sent to the war in Vietnam, where he is changed forever. Kincaid Chance, the youngest brother, narrates the book yet is the member of the family we finally learn the least about. 

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Twenty-seventh century Earth is united by a worldwide democratic government presided over by a constitutional monarch, though the former is veering toward totalitarianism and the latter is a megalomaniac. To neutralize the World Emperor the power- hungry prime minister has ceded to him control of Greece for use in a mysterious secret project. Now Greece is surrounded by a force field cutting it off from the rest of the world, and people of Greek descent everywhere have vanished, presumably spirited away to the isolated region by the Emperor's agents. One such kidnapped citizen is Thalia, wife of classical scholar Wiyem Flin. Anxious to get her back, he recruits his friend, magazine editor Knut Bulnes, into a desperate attempt to penetrate the force barrier. Bulnes, hoping to obtain an exclusive story on the Emperor's mysterious project, agrees. The two succeed, sailing a boat through the barrier when it is temporarily disrupted by a storm. Inside the force field, Flin and Bulnes are astounded to find themselves not in 27th century Greece, but to all appearances the Classical Greece of Pericles and the Peloponnesian War. Pretending to be foreign philosophers, they establish themselves in Athens as they attempt to unravel the mystery, and begin to discover that all is not as it seems; the wife of the playwright Euripides, for instance, appears to be Thalia, though she does not recognize Flin and has no memory of her former life. After meeting the astronomer Meton, Flin and Bulnes discover that the north celestial pole is where it is expected to be in the twenty-seventh century, proving that they cannot really be in ancient Greece. Bulnes discovers a hidden subterranean building containing modern machinery and people speaking twenty-seventh century language. The pair eventually deduce that the entire country is an elaborate charade, with most of the inhabitants being controlled by a "mind conditioning" device that erases their memories and deceives them into believing they are living in ancient Greece. They decide to reveal this fact to Pericles by masquerading as an oracle of the god Apollo. Pericles appears for their meeting but when they reveal their news, he attempts to shoot them with a modern gun. Only then do they realize that Pericles is actually the World Emperor himself. Escaping, they discover an elaborate system of machinery and antennas hidden in the colossal statue of Athene Promachos. They enlist the aid of Kleon, a political opponent of Pericles. They are surprised to discover that he is actually the Emperor's brother, although under conditioning like most of the people and unaware of his true identity. With the help of Kleon and his supporters, they start a fire at the Athene Promachos statue, destroying the conditioning machinery and restoring the memories of the people. Although the Emperor kills his brother and is himself killed in the ensuing melee, Flin is finally reunited with his wife Thalia. 

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Six-year-old Savannah's father is running for the United States Senate. Because Savannah's parents pay no attention to her, she decides to run away, leaving a note before she flees. Unfortunately, her father, fearing the note may hurt his chances of winning the election, burns it and admonishes the maid not to tell anyone. When her aunt picks her up and they go to the park, Savannah switches cars and ends up with two escaped (and incompetent) convicts, Alvie and Boots. The convicts take her in and soon discover that her father has posted a reward of $100,000 for her safe return. Unexpectedly, they grow close to her, and Savannah finds the love and attention she always wanted. The convicts arrange to return her, with the help of the family priest, but she becomes lost in the mountains. The convicts refuse the opportunity to escape in order to search for her and bring her back safely, ultimately surrendering to the priest and the police. 

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Kerberos Panzer Cop is more of an anthology of vignettes depicting "incidents", eight acts, all of which contribute to the tale of the closing battles between Antigovernment urban guerrilla organizations, such as The Sect, and the Metropolitan Police's (M.P.) Special Armed Garrison nicknamed "", the Greek word for the mythological "Cerberus" hellhound. The manga ends with the fall of the M.P.'s Special Armed Garrison to the JGSDF's special force "Molosser" during a failed coup d'état in Tokyo. The putschs failing is due to a complex political conspiracy and a harsh struggle for command between rival police administrations. This Kerberos Saga key event is called "Kerberos Riot" (ケルベロス騒乱, keruberosu sōran). Though, three Special Armed Garrison veterans escape, Koichi Todome , Midori Washio and Souichiro Toribe (a.k.a. the Devil's Trio). 

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Surya (Ajith) has been brought up in the army training barracks in Wellington (Ooty), ever since his mother (Sukanya) handed him over as a baby to the camp brigadier (Nasser). She tells the officer the reason for her action, but the audience is not allowed to hear it at this point. Surya grows up to be a patriotic youth and the best soldier in his class. He is about to complete his training in 3 months and leave to the border. He falls in love with Indu (Simran), the daughter of a senior army officer, who is visiting Wellington Camp. Indu's parents accept her choice of husband, and the family leaves to Kashmir. Soon after, Indu's father dies in a bomb blast while her mother loses her life on seeing her husband's body. Not wishing to lose her husband too in war, Indu asks Surya to choose between her and the army. Surya then asks the brigadier to advise him, and the brigadier tells the story of his parents. His father, Bomb Sekhar (R. Parthipen) was a very violent terrorist, who was sentenced to 3 years of prison and death. His mother was a nun, who visited prisoners and chanted Bible verses to them. Slowly, Surya's father's nature begins to change, and to near his death; he is completely reformed. Sensing that there is no way for him to repent for his mistakes by serving the nation, he confides to the nun that if he had a child, he would have made him act the country. That night the nun thinks about her conversation with Sehkar and subsequently resigns her position with the church. The following day the nun convinces Sekhar that she will bear his child as a way to fulfil his dying wish and they consummate inside the prison secretly. She leaves him, and the next day he is hanged. Once Surya is born, she hands him to authorities at the military camp and commits suicide as well. So Surya says, his birth was to serve the nation as a soldier, and if she wants to marry him, she must wait for the next 12 years till his service is over. Indu agrees, and Surya moves with his barrack to the border. 

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Ganesh (Parthiban), is the only son of Mudaliar-Gounder inter-caste parents (Jaiganesh and Sathyapriya). He loses several prospective brides due to this and spends his time dreaming of marriage. On a bus ride to Chengalpattu to take up a promotion as a bank manager, he gets involved in an accident. The scene shifts to three months later when he finally shows up at Chengalpattu. Nandini (Devayani), who lives in the house opposite to his, showers affection on him, gives him coffee, provides him with hot water, etc. Ganesh falls in love with Nandini, but when he visits her family with his parents to talk about marriage, she rejects him. Nandini reveals the real reason behind her attachment to Ganesh. She tells him about her ill-fated love affair with army officer Subramani (Ajith Kumar). Subramani and Nandini's wedding was planned, and on the day before the wedding, Subramani meets with an accident and passes away. Coincidentally, this was the same bus accident in which Ganesh was also travelling. Ganesh lost his vision in the accident, and Subramani's eyes have been donated to Ganesh, which made her fall in love with his eyes. Eager to send him on his way, Nandini sends a letter in Ganesh's name to Ganesh's home, accepting the latest girl whom they picked for him. Ganesh returns home to find arrangements for his wedding in full swing. Coincidentally, the girl turns out to be Bhagyalakshmi (Suvalakshmi), someone he had dreamed of marrying during his pre-Nandini days. However, Ganesh cancels the wedding plans and returns to Chengalpet. In the end, it is shown that Ganesh and Nandini remain good friends without getting married. 

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The film details on how the parents of a young teen aged boy diagnosed with chronic brain tumor accept and deal with his sickness, Anjali (Richa Ahuja)'s undeterred love for the optimistic Ajay who is on the verge of death is beautifully depicted throughout the film. 

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Selvam (Karthik) and his friend Bhaskar (Ramesh Khanna) are petty thieves, who live their life stealing stuff from people. One day, they are assigned a job to steal a Ganesh Idol from the temple, for a man who had just moved into a new house, citing prosperity as a reason. The friends succeed in stealing the idol but are spotted by the people who start chasing them. They hide in a house and encounter Radha (Roja). Radha is a maid in the house and is looking after the owners’ 3 children while the adults are away on pilgrimage tour. Radha and the kids lock the two of them in a room and order them to do stuff for 3 days. Radha, while spending time alone in the house with the guys, realise that they are not bad after all and develops a soft corner for Selvam and he in return, falls for her. The guys are released after 3 days, the day the owners are to return. Bhaskar steals Radha’s handbag which contains her diary. Selvam reads the diary and finds out that Radha is the illegitimate daughter of Vishwanathan (Moulee). After her mother’s death, Radha meets her father who accepts her as his daughter but has to bring her into the house as a maid. Vishwanathan’s wife (Sathyapriya and her sister (Fathima Babu) take an instant dislike for Radha. She treats her with utter disgust and blames her for the tiniest of the things. Vishwanathan plans to arrange the marriage between Sanjay (Ajith Kumar), his brother-in-law and Radha. But Sanjay says that he would have to think about it and asks for 3 months’ time. Radha waits for his reply. Selvam, after reading her diary, feels pity on her and tries to change his ways by working responsibly after Radha’s advice. He also hides his feelings for her. After returning from the trip, Vishwanathan’s wife finds out a diamond necklace is missing. When looking for it, she finds a cigarette bud in one of the drawers and scolds Radha. She chases her out. Selvam who comes to return her bag, finds out and helps her to accommodate in a hostel. He does many petty works to pay the hostel fees and help Radha. One day, Selvam finds about Radha’s singing talent and tries to help her move on with it. He encounters music director Gangai Amaran late one night and helps him repair his car. In return, he asks the director to help Radha out. Radha, after singing a few songs, becomes successful in her singing career and becomes rich. She stays in her bungalow with Selvam and Bhaskar. During an interview, Radha refrains from saying her father’s name. Upset, Vishwanathan reveals that he is the father. His wife, looking at Radha’s money, accepts Radha as her daughter as well. They come to stay at her house. Vishwanathan’s wife does not like Selvam and Bhaskar staying with them. They plan the wedding of Sanjay and Radha, as Sanjay had accepted to marry Radha, long time back. When Radha had gone out of town with Sanjay, to receive an award, Vishwanathan’s wife and sister-in-law stage a drama that Selvam stole money and chase him and Bhaskar out. Radha comes back and is shocked. She finds Selvam’s diary in his room and learns about his love for her. During an award ceremony, Radha reveals that the reason for her success is not her family but Selvam and she had fallen in love with him. She also tells her desire to marry him. Selvam who had arrived there to drop a passenger, sees it and is called upon the stage when Radha sees him in a tv. In a flashback, it is shown that Radha had informed Sanjay and Vishwanathan about her love for Selvam and how Sanjay had accepted it. Selvam and Radha leave the place hand in hand. 

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Jeeva (Ajith Kumar) lives with his grandmother Lakshmi (Radha Bhai) in Madurai and says that he would marry the girl that he likes at first sight. He goes to Chennai after getting a job as a bank manager there. In a shopping mall, he gets a glimpse of Divya (Simran) and falls in love with her. He identifies her scooter model and goes on a mission in search of her to end up in a colony surrounded by comedians - Dhandabani (Goundamani), Michael Jackson (Senthil), Major Ramachandran (Venniradai Moorthy), Savithri (Kovai Sarala), and James Thomson (Dhamu). The colony people mistakenly think that Jeeva is trying to steal the scooter, and therefore, he lied that he was looking for a house to rent. Then, he agreed to stay in the colony after confirming that Divya and her mother Janaki (Sujatha) are residing in the colony. From there on, Jeeva tries to impress Divya. The comedians find out that Jeeva is trying to approach Divya and agree to help him. They ask Janaki's opinion about Divya's marriage. However, Divya refused the offer, saying that she is not interested in getting married. A lonely, sad, pathetic- looking Janaki seemed to hide something. The gang gives a few ideas to persuade Divya, but they all failed. Eventually, tired of foolish ideas, Jeeva tells Janaki that he wants to marry her daughter. Impressed by Jeeva's good manner, Janaki advised Divya to accept him. Truthful to the expectations, Divya revealed that Janaki is actually her mother-in-law. Knowing that Jeeva loves her, Divya insults him so that he would give up, but he did not. Every time Jeeva did well to her, it reminds her of her ex-husband Prithvi's (Babloo Prithiveeraj) cruelty, and she started to compare them both. In a dramatic flashback, Prithvi is killed (so we think) by Divya when he encourages his friends to sexually abuse her. Believing that the bad time is behind them, Janaki and Divya start a new life in a new town as a mother-daughter team. Divya falls in love with Jeeva with the comedians' help. However, Janaki did not allow Divya to tell Jeeva about her past. The whole colony was cheered by the news, and they arranged an engagement. Prithvi returns for their betrothal to reclaim his possession. He blackmails Divya to sleep with him on one night before her marriage and asks Jeeva to sanction him a loan of Rs. 25 lakhs; otherwise, he will reveal the truth to everyone. Somehow, Jeeva knows the truth and claimed to be proud to become Divya's husband. This distracts Prithvi, who then decides to stop the marriage. What can a good mother do to stop her evil son? She poisons him and kills herself too for the sake of a peaceful life for her daughter-in-law. 

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This film is about the family of Kumar (Ajith Kumar) and his Uncle (Rambha's father) (Bala Singh). The problem between two families start when Kumar is unable to spend too much money for an occasion in his uncle's family. Whether Kumar and Meena (Rambha) get united after solving out all the problems forms the crux of the story. 

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Kamali (Devayani) lives with her sister, Malliga (Sabitha Anand) and brother- in-law, Shekar (Rajeev) in Kotagiri, and is searching for a job and lives with high hopes of getting married soon. While visiting Madras, her purse is stolen and she fears she has lost her academic credentials. Suriya (Ajith Kumar) who is an orphan and care-free man, works in Jaipur finds the purse and sends it back to her, and a love develops through letters and phone calls. They agree to love each other without meeting, as she sews and sends a gift pack containing a lotus embroided woollen sweater for him to wear when they meet in real. As Suriya shifts to Madras for work and stays with Siva (Karan). Kamali too moves for Madras to find a job for her and stays with her friend Jensi (Indhu). Suriya is attracted and smitten by his boss Neya (Heera Rajagopal). Her repeated attempts in gaining his love and affections fails as he staunch on his love for Kamali. In the meantime, unintentionally they both run over upon each other without knowing who they really were resulting in negative perception and misunderstanding. Refusing a Job offer which would move Kamali to Singapore, making it difficult for her to find Suriya she moves back to her home in despair. Unable to withstand the advances of Neya, Suriya quits the job gets sheltered by Paneer (Thalaivasal Vijay), who arranges him an autorickshaw to engaged as driver. Jeeva (Raja), a wealthy businessman expresses his interest in marrying Kamali to Shekar, but Kamali excuses herself to consider her as prospective bride when she meets Jeeva in private and shares her unflinching love for Suriya, who even allows her to meet him for one last time. Shekar, who initially dissuades Kamali's love finally gives in and allows her to Madras half-heartedly. Upon arriving in Madras, which is experiencing severe monsoon, Kamali finds that Jensi and other hostel mates were out of station. Pinning hopes, she boards the Suriya's autorickshaw, driven by him without knowing it him traces and searches for him desperately, wherever he lived. At the end of the day, both gets refreshed at his place, while he dons her gifted sweater covered by his uniform. As Kamali plans to head home, depressed, Suriya assists her to board Nilgiri Express. As the train departs, in a turn of events, Suriya removes his shirt wherein Kamali notices it was her gifted sweater and finally unite, as Paneer and Jensi watches the pair and rejoices. 

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Vasanth (Ajith Kumar) and Sathya (Prashanth) are best friends since childhood. Manivannan is working under Sathya's mother and he wants his daughter Pooja (Pooja Bhatt) to marry Sathya so that he would be wealthy for the rest of his life. For this he makes many tricks and pranks to make them walk together alone, to go for a ride and many more. On Vasanth's birthday Sathya goes to wish him but he denies his wish and says his birthday means nothing to him anymore. Simultaneously Sathya's mother decides that her son is to marry Pooja and the engagement day arrives. Without informing her, when she enters the house as all the other guests did, Manivannan insists that she wear the engagement saree. Knowing the situation she leaves the place crying and Sathya follows her. In the middle of the street he shouts at her and asks the reason why she can't marry him. She immediately shows her Mangala sutra (wedding thread) which she has hidden from everyone and reveals that she is already married. Flashback begins with Nivetha (Devayani) and Pooja being best friends from school and on the first day of college Nivetha meets Vasanth and falls in love. Unaware of this, Pooja and Vasanth loved each other. When Pooja came to know about the love of her friend for Vasanth, she decided to sacrifice her love. On Vasanth's birthday she denied her love for him and quickly he forcefully married her. Seeing this, Nivetha committed suicide before their eyes. Pooja got separated from Vasanth thinking that he was the reason behind her friend's death. After knowing this Sathya goes on to have a fight with Vasanth. But after knowing the truth, Sathya decides to sacrifice his love for Pooja and decides to unite Vasanth and Pooja. On a cultural day when Sathya, Vasanth and Pooja give a combined performance, the opposite gang led by Manivannan makes a vengeful plan against Vasanth and stabs him. The blame is then put on Sathya who ends up in jail. When Pooja sees her husband get hurt, she forgets everything and starts to cry for him. Then as soon as Vasanth becomes conscious, he and Pooja finally are united. 

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Raja (Vijay) is the son of a poor family, and his only aim in life is to study to get a good job. Meanwhile, Gowri (Indraja), the daughter of the richest man of the village, falls in love with Raja, but he keeps shunning her and getting away from her. She decides to know the reason for his behaviour. Raja narrates a flashback story of his friend Chandru's (Ajith Kumar) unsuccessful love story with Shanthi (Gayathri), and ended up committing suicide after his lover's marriage, so he hates love. Raja later falls in love with Gowri; meanwhile issues of class arise in the village, but finally Raja and Gowri overcome all the issues and unite. 

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17-year-old, Valerie Smith, newly graduated from high school, heads off on a road trip to San Francisco with her friend Joleen. They have just started out when Joleen's car breaks down, but one of Joleen's friends, Buddy (Sam Bottoms) pulls up and offers to take Valerie the rest of the way. He is overly familiar; Valerie does not know him and is reluctant to accept the offer, but is ultimately pressured into accepting the ride. Not far into the trip Buddy decides to rob a liquor store and forces Valerie to assist him at gunpoint. The shopkeeper raises the alarm and is shot dead; the police arrive and both Buddy and Valerie are arrested. At her trial, Buddy insists that he and Valerie were secret lovers and that it was only at her urging that he committed the robbery. All the witnesses back his version that she was a willing participant, and she is duly convicted of the murder and sent to the San Marcos School for Girls. It is a big modern prison campus and has modern facilities like a hair salon and its own modern euphemistic language, including the rebranding of solitary confinement as "meditation". The staff meanwhile eschew all modern correctional techniques, keeping the girls in their place by reinforcing their uselessness whenever possible, and failing to intervene in their most blatant acts of skulduggery. The prisoners are divided into two rival camps - one led by the duplicitous, scheming Susie Kurosawa (Suesie Eléne), who is a favourite of the staff, and the other by the forthright Tommy Washington (Jonelle Allen). Valerie knows she does not belong in this circle and tries to avoid taking sides, but after her 14-year-old friend Sarah has a vat of boiling water tipped over her by the Kurosawa gang, she decides that aligning herself to Tommy's crew might be in her best interests. She continues to battle, aghast at the way the "school" is managed, and not fully comprehending that prison could be much, much worse. She becomes a bit manic. Away from the prison, her attorney resorts to some very creative work to explode Buddy's story, but when he does it is almost in vain as Valerie prepares to join in on an escape attempt after suffering one tragedy, where Wanda dies from a blood clot, one unhappy setback too many, when a fight breaks out during a running exercise, and Valerie gets involved, trying to subdue Susie. However, when Tommy gets involved, Susie stabs her to death with a knife and Susie is taken away for murder. 

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Yubisaki Milk Tea revolves around Yoshinori Ikeda, a high school student, who is one day convinced to fill in for his sister for a modeling job while she went on a date. He cross-dresses in his first female outfit as a bride, before ultimately discovering that he enjoys dressing like a girl. He has a young childhood friend named Hidari Morii that he is interested in, but he is unsure of his feelings, as there is another girl he likes in his own class—Minamo Kurokawa. Incidentally, Minamo is the class head, and top student, but she has trouble opening up to people, especially men, due to an incident in her past. Yoshinori remedies this by dressing up, when he is able to become Yuki—the name he chose for himself in feminine form. As the story goes on, Yoshinori is still unable to choose which of the two girls he likes more and all the while feelings of love between everyone are growing ever stronger. 

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English map of Cpt. Maki's route from Warsaw to Stalingrad (courtesy of Hobby Japan) In September 1942, Captain Maki Stauffenberg, in command of the 808th Propagandakompanie, leaves Warsaw station on an armored train to start her long journey into Soviet territory. A filmmaker originally affiliated with UFA GmBH, she has been tasked with creating a propaganda film about the exploits of the 101st Panzer Jäger Battalion. Tainted by association with the displaced Nazi regime, the 101st has been committed to bloody frontline battles against the Soviets without respite, achieving stunning combat results in the process. However, Maki Stauffenberg, the half-Japanese niece of Hitler's killer, has taken on the mission for her own reasons. 

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Kel, though allowed to continue her training by instructor Wyldon of Cavall, is still not accepted by many of the male pages, and is therefore supported by Neal, Merric, Cleon, and Owen against Joren. At the beginning of the book, Kel hires Lalasa, after her mistreatment by other relatives. Kel also adopts a stray dog who calls himself Jump, and a flock of songbirds. Thereafter the book follows Kel's education, until Lalasa and Jump are kidnapped; whereupon Kel and her friends rescue them. Kel had proved her worthiness of being a leader when she guides her group of fellow pages through the "Battle of the Cliff". Lord Wyldon continues to make life hard for kel by forcing her to improve her jousting skills, (She called the routine maddening) and made her join the elite page archers group, which kel does more enthusiastically because if she advances, she gets to "play" with different kinds of arrows. Lord Wyldon also tries to humiliate Kel by making her "leader" of a fighting group while another page leads the other group, and they have a mock battle, which Kel's group always wins. Category:2000 American novels Category:2000 fantasy novels Category:Tortallan books 

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The story presents many characters, including Madame Tussaud who wishes to gain weight in order to bring the police presidium to crumble down into hell, Alexander's portagé, Primář Karlach, the evil philosopher-doctor, who was deposed from his hospital and has returned; Countess Willma, a wealthy countess from a somewhat surrealist estate (e.g. the furniture in the upper floor has been burning for 200 years and there are strange things, like cigarettes in the sky) and a whole ensemble of wax dummies of historical people. As Řezníček uses his traditional style of writing, it is nearly impossible to follow the line of events, because he often interrupts the descriptions of situations with intermezzos, such as (from another work) "a women is spinache" ("žena je špenát") around which numerous later sentences are based, showing what something is and what something else is not (this line is also special in his work, as un-traditionally it is referred and debated on the following pages as well, unlike his classic form of showing many such proclamations upon another). These types of sentences are often illogical and often they fail to actually have a point, therefore much of them are just plain descriptions (in the style of "Man on the ground" only expanded with numerous other words). The events of this book lead through various unconnected situations up to Řezníčeks classic ending, in which all the characters are brought into one place and taken care of (another such ending was in his book Strop, in which all the characters, one by one were brought into the "swamps for blind", where they stayed), this time before a tribunal from which they escape. Another part of Řezníček's writing is the usage of himself in his novels, describing himself in the first, but also in the third person ("Řežníček, ten ......ďábel", "Řezníček that......devil...."). He frequently breaks the fourth wall by insulting the readers or the book or supremely praising them (both may occur in the same book). Category:1994 novels Category:Czech novels 

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The British Secret Service agent James Bond is sent on an assignment by his superior, M. Acting on information received from Special Branch, M tasks Bond with infiltrating a smuggling ring transporting diamonds from mines in the Crown colony of Sierra Leone to the United States. Bond must infiltrate the smugglers' pipeline to uncover those responsible. Using the identity of "Peter Franks", a country house burglar turned diamond smuggler, he meets Tiffany Case, an attractive gang member who has developed an antipathy towards men after being gang-raped as a teenager. The main track of Saratoga Race Course (in 1907) Bond discovers that the ring is operated by the Spangled Mob, a ruthless American gang run by the brothers Jack and Seraffimo Spang. He follows the trail from London to New York. To earn his fee for carrying the diamonds he is instructed by a gang member, Shady Tree, to bet on a rigged horse race in nearby Saratoga. There Bond meets Felix Leiter, a former CIA agent working at Pinkertons as a private detective investigating crooked horse racing. Leiter bribes the jockey to ensure the failure of the plot to rig the race, and asks Bond to make the pay-off. When he goes to make the payment, he witnesses two homosexual thugs, Wint and Kidd, attack the jockey. Bond calls Tree to enquire further about the payment of his fee and is told to go to the Tiara Hotel in Las Vegas. The Tiara is owned by Seraffimo Spang and operates as the headquarters of the Spangled Mob. Spang also owns an old Western ghost town, named Spectreville, restored to be his own private holiday retreat. At the hotel Bond finally receives payment through a rigged blackjack game where the dealer is Tiffany. After winning the money he is owed he disobeys his orders from Tree by continuing to gamble in the casino and wins heavily. Spang suspects that Bond may be a 'plant' and has him captured and tortured at Spectreville. With Tiffany's help he escapes from Spectreville aboard a railway push-car with Seraffimo Spang in pursuit aboard an old Western train. Bond changes the railway points and re-routes the train onto a dead-end, and shoots Spang before the resulting crash. Assisted by Leiter, Bond and Tiffany go via California to New York, where they board the RMS Queen Elizabeth to travel to London, a relationship developing between them as they go. Wint and Kidd observe their embarkation and follow them on board. They kidnap Tiffany, planning to kill her and throw her overboard. Bond rescues her and kills both gangsters; he makes it look like a murder-suicide. Tiffany subsequently informs Bond of the details of the pipeline. The story begins in Africa where a dentist bribes miners to smuggle diamonds in their mouths; he extracts the gems during routine appointments. From there, the dentist takes the diamonds to a rendezvous with a German helicopter pilot. Eventually the diamonds go to Paris and then on to London. There, after telephone instructions from a contact known as ABC, Tiffany meets a person who explains how the diamonds will be smuggled to New York City. After returning to London—where Tiffany moves into Bond's flat—Bond flies to Freetown in Sierra Leone, and then to the next diamond rendezvous. With the collapse of the rest of the pipeline, Jack Spang (who turns out to be ABC) shuts down his diamond- smuggling pipeline by killing its participants. Spang himself is killed when Bond shoots down his helicopter. 

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RMS Queen Elizabeth approaching New York; Fleming travelled to the US on board, Bond took the ship back to Britain. Fleming had previously travelled to the US on the RMS Queen Elizabeth; the experience provided background information for the final four chapters of the novel. His trip had included a railway journey on the Super Chief, during which he and Cuneo had visited the cab to meet the driver and engineer, and an excursion on the 20th Century Limited, both of which gave information Fleming used for Spang's train, the Cannonball. Fleming had a long-standing interest in trains and following his involvement in a near-fatal crash associated them with danger. In addition to Diamonds Are Forever, he used them in Live and Let Die, From Russia, with Love and The Man with the Golden Gun. As with several others of his works, Fleming appropriated the names of people he knew for the story's characters. The name of one of Fleming's two travelling companions from the US, Ernest Cuneo, was used as Ernie Cureo, Bond's taxi-driving ally in Las Vegas, and one of the homosexual villains, "Boofy" Kidd, was named after one of Fleming's close friends—and a relative of his wife—Arthur Gore, 8th Earl of Arran, known to his friends as "Boofy". Arran, an advocate of the relaxation of the British laws relating to homosexuality, heard about the use of his name before publication and complained to Fleming about it, but was ignored and the name was retained for the novel. During his trip to America Fleming had come across the name Spang—old German for "maker of shoe buckles"—which he appropriated for the villainous brothers. 

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Street Magic is set in Chammur, a city in the country of Sotat, which has been left to itself for many decades. Many of the city's structures are made of stone. 

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Mickey Stern is signed by the New York Yankees to play baseball out of high school. He also falls in love with an older woman, Leah, but his professional and personal lives are disrupted by the Korean War. Mickey returns from military duty a changed man. His baseball career never takes off, and he becomes a magician. But when he meets the spitting image of his former love as well as a younger version of himself, Mickey attempts to bring back the past. 

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Heavy snow traps Sylvester the Cat and Tweety alone in Granny's mountain cabin. The radio reports that the roads will be blocked for six weeks. Panicked, Sylvester looks for food everywhere finding nothing but bird seed. While Sylvester and Tweety are initially friends in the short, Sylvester attempts to eat Tweety, tricking him into thinking various cooking methods are games, to which Tweety is oblivious. The Sylvester-chases-Tweety cycle is continually disrupted by a mouse who is even hungrier and more desperate than Sylvester, the mouse seizing upon the idea of eating Sylvester. Sylvester suggests that Tweety play sailboat, but in a pot where he is attempting to cook him. This is interrupted by the mouse discovering Sylvester and gnawing his tail. After fighting the mouse and chasing him back to his hole, Sylvester boards it up. While checking the pot, the mouse pushes Sylvester into it and covers it. Sylvester escapes and replugs the mouse hole. Sylvester convinces Tweety to skate on an oily skillet. While being flipped in the pan, Tweety lands upon the top of the stove, requiring Sylvester to reach for him. Struggling to reach him, Sylvester places his hand on the hot stove. While cooling his hand in the snow, the mouse places his tail in a toaster. Sylvester puts out his tail in an ashtray, with which he chases the mouse. He stops to peer in the mouse hole, whereupon the mouse drops a bowling ball on his head. The mouse drags the knocked out Sylvester into the hole but can only fit his leg, which he cooks rotisserie-style over a fire. Sylvester escapes just as Granny arrives with food. Upon opening the pack, it is full of more bird seed and no food for Sylvester. Sylvester, left with no other alternative, begrudgingly eats the bird seed. While doing so in the final act, Tweety asks Sylvester if he likes the bird seed; unknown to any of them, the mouse has grabbed the cat's tail and – after pouring milk over it to give it moisture – bites the tail, causing Sylvester to yowl in pain. "It tan't be dat bad!" remarks Tweety. 

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Allan, a cable television producer in New York City, is determined to find the perfect woman, and he would even go so far as having a description of what she would look like done on an artist sketch. But before he can encounter the girl of his dreams he finds himself encountering a series of disastrous dating roadblocks. He finally meets Maria, who seems to be his perfect woman, and tries to make the relationship work. 

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Aramoana, Tuesday 13 November 1990. David Gray, an unemployed man in his 30s who lives in his parent's small holiday home, cycles into town where he has an argument with staff at a bank over a minor issue. Unstable and angry, he returns home where he has a cache of fire-arms, including a semi- automatic rifle. Late in the afternoon, he notices children from a neighbouring house have wandered onto his yard and he angrily abuses them, sparking a heated verbal exchange with their father, Garry Holden. Gray goes inside his house and then quickly re-emerges armed with the rifle, shooting Holden dead. Holden's two young daughters, Chiquita and Jasmine, and his girlfriend Julie-Anne's adopted daughter Rewa, witness the murder and flee inside Holden's house, attempting to hide. Gray enters and soon locates them. Chiquita is then seen fleeing, having been wounded, trying to get help for Jasmine and Rewa (whose deaths occur off-screen). She reaches Julie-Anne and they both get into her van and drive towards the scene, trying to rescue the other girls, only to find Holden's house has been set on fire. Julie-Anne is then forced to drive to safety as Gray fires at her vehicle. Nearby residents hear the shooting and see the smoke, not yet comprehending what is happening. Gray enters a nearby house and shoots dead both elderly male occupants (their deaths occur off-screen). Elderly widow Eva Dickson, who recently has had hip surgery, ventures out with her walking frame to see what is happening and she is joined by a neighbour Chris Cole. Earlier, Dickson's middle-aged son James had left the house, looking for his dog. An unseen Gray opens fire, hitting Cole and narrowly missing Dickson. Having collapsed and unable to stand up again, Dickson crawls inside her house to ring the police and then goes back to Cole, lying badly wounded but still conscious, to tell him that help is coming (Cole later succumbs to his injuries). A utility with six people on board, including three children, drives up from the nearby beach, stopping near the burning house. Gray emerges and opens fire. The subsequent shootings are not shown, only the noise and the look of horror on the face of a nearby witness. It is now getting dark and the Holden house is engulfed in flames. The first police to arrive are Sgt Stewart Guthrie, Constable Nick Harvey and Detective Paul Knox. They arrive at Gray's and Holden's houses, seeing bodies in and around the utility, including a woman on the ground who is badly wounded and calling for help. The police attempt to surround Gray's house but the gunman surprises Guthrie from behind, shooting him dead. Harvey, armed with a rifle, briefly has Gray in his sights but hesitates, missing his chance. Knox reaches the utility, discovering the woman is now dead but one of the vehicle's other occupants still alive- 3-year-old Stacey Percy, who has been wounded in the abdomen but is still conscious. Knox and Harvey enter Gray's house but find it empty. They get into a car, Harvey nursing Stacey, trying to keep her conscious and Knox holding the bodies of the other two children from the utility, and drive to where a police cordon is being established, handing Stacey over to paramedics. Harvey is physically ill as he reacts to the fear and trauma. Eva Dickson stays in her kitchen, keeping in touch with police by phone. Her dog comes back, stained with the blood of her son James (whose death has occurred off-screen). The police seal off the town, residents spending a fearful night in their homes with the gunman still at large. Gray enters a crib and, finding it deserted, spends the night there. The next day, police have arrived en masse and are combing the town, searching for Gray. Armed Offenders Squad (AOS) officers locate the crib and surround the small house. After a brief exchange of gunfire, the officers throw tear- gas canisters into the house. Gray abruptly emerges, screaming obscenities and firing wildly from the hip. The waiting officers open fire and hit Gray several times, the gunman collapsing. With difficulty, the AOS men restrain him and then wait nearby as Gray dies of his wounds. A postscript follows, consisting of a montage of scenes, including the full squad of AOS officers escorting Eva Dickson from her home as a mark of respect for her bravery, Chiquita Holden and Stacey Percy in hospital, both recovering from their wounds, the deliberate torching of Gray's house that occurred several days after the massacre and a list of names of the 13 people who died on 13 November. 

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Nikolai Dmitriev-Orenburgsky's painting of General Mikhail Skobelev – the real-life model for the book's Sobolev – captures the dashing image evident also in Akunin's literary depiction. The novel opens with a young Russian woman of "progressive" sympathies, Varvara Suvorova, traveling to meet her fiancé Pyotr Yablokov, who has volunteered to fight in the war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Her guide steals all her luggage and disappears as she approaches the war zone, but she is rescued by Erast Fandorin, who has been fighting as a volunteer to forget his tragedy. He accompanies her to Russian army headquarters to which he's bringing an important message. Upon arrival, Varvara is reunited with Pyotr, and Fandorin delivers his message: the Ottoman army is advancing towards the Bulgarian town of Plevna, which sits on the road to Sofia and must be taken so the Russian army can easily advance through Bulgaria and into Turkey. Varvara sees little of her fiancé, who is busy with his duties as an army cryptographer, so she spends her time at the correspondents' club, where she meets various interesting characters: Irish reporter Seamus McLaughlin, French reporter Charles Paladin, Romanian army liaison Colonel Lukan (unlike Bromfield's English translation, some others use proper Romanian spelling "Lucan"), Russian hussar officer Count Zurov (Fandorin's old friend from The Winter Queen), and the charismatic General Sobolev (based on the real-life Mikhail Skobelev). Fandorin is informed that a Turkish agent, Anwar Effendi, is conducting an intelligence operation against the Russian army and might even have penetrated Russian headquarters. This is confirmed when the telegram directing the Russian army to take Plevna is mysteriously changed to an order to take Nikopol, a strategically irrelevant town. Varvara's fiancé Pyotr, who encoded the telegram, is jailed on suspicion of treason. Fandorin is charged with finding Anwar and uncovering the Turkish plot. Because of the diversion of the Russian army to Nikopol, Ottoman troops arrive in Plevna first. The French reporter, Paladin, sneaks into the Ottoman camp and determines that only a small number of troops are in the town. Based on this information, the Russians attack Plevna, only to be bloodily repulsed because Paladin's data were incorrect and the Turks are there in strength. The Russian army then settles in for a siege. The Russians' first attempt to break the siege of Plevna ends in defeat when the Turks, who somehow have advance knowledge of the Russian attack plan, concentrate their artillery on the Russian formations before the Russians have a chance to move forward. Fandorin immediately suspects Colonel Lukan, who predicted to Varvara that the attack would fail. He asks Varvara to follow Lukan back to Bucharest and investigate him, but that effort ends when Paladin kills Lukan in a duel over Varvara's honor. Investigation of his possessions shows that he was indeed taking money from a mysterious 'J.' In the following attempt to storm Plevna, Sobolev leads his troops in an attack that breaks through Plevna's defenses and finally enters the city, but he is unable to advance further due to insufficient strength. He sends several messengers to headquarters to request reinforcements, but all are killed in the fray. In the end, Count Zurov breaks through to the Russian side, but after meeting the journalists at their observation outpost disappears on his way to the headquarters and Sobolev, out of ammunition, is forced to withdraw. Later, a search party finds Zurov murdered on the battlefield, apparently stabbed by gendarme Colonel Kazanzaki, whom dying Zurov managed to shoot. Pyotr unsuccessfully tries to hang himself, feeling responsibility for the carnage and defeat as he left the telegram unguarded when he went to welcome Varya and then sent it without checking; for the spy, knowing the not too strong Russian cipher, it was easy to replace it. Three attempts to storm Plevna having failed, the Russian and Romanian armies besiege the city. By December, the Turks inside Plevna are starving. Varvara, on her way back from the hospital where she had been sent due to a case of typhus, encounters McLaughlin, the Irish reporter, who informs her that he has been tipped off that the Turks will surrender that night in a distant sector. She tells Fandorin, who guesses correctly that the Turks are not surrendering but trying to confuse the Russian army so they can stage a breakout. Thanks to his last-minute warning to Sobolev, the Russians manage to repel the attack after a fierce fight, the Turks in Plevna surrender, and McLaughlin, who has disappeared, is assumed to be the spy. In the aftermath, Fandorin and Varvara are summoned to the presence of Emperor Alexander II and his Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov. Both the Emperor and Chancellor are furious at the treachery of McLaughlin. They believe him to have acted under direct orders of the British government, which – while pretending neutrality – is in fact determined to prevent Russia from gaining a decisive victory over the Turks. Fandorin is dispatched to London to track down McLaughlin and either kidnap him, bribe him to change sides by the promise of a Russian estate, or at least denounce and discredit him in British public opinion. As later seen, Fandorin takes up the mission while having doubts – which he does not voice – as to McLaughlin's guilt. In his absence Varvara, less and less enthusiastic about her fiancé and more and more intrigued by the dashing general Sobolev, accompanies the army as it advances through Bulgaria to Adrianople. Shortly thereafter, the Turks sue for peace, and negotiations commence. At the train station, where Sobolev has his headquarters, Paladin suggests that they ride the train into San Stefano, the undefended western suburb of Constantinople. Sobolev agrees, and he, Paladin, Varvara, and his entourage all ride in to San Stefano accompanied by one Russian battalion. En route Sobolev tells Varvara that after the war he intends to divorce his wife and proposes to then marry Varvara. She has very mixed feelings about this proposal, but before she has time to respond the train arrives in San Stefano and Sobolev must give his full attention to securing control of the town. The Russians set up headquarters in a bank building, and Paladin has convinced General Sobolev to advance into Constantinople – when Fandorin suddenly appears and unmasks "Charles Paladin", the French journalist, as Anwar Effendi, the master Turkish spy. Fandorin recounts his investigation and notes how nobody at Paladin's newspaper had ever seen him and how Paladin's stories for years had been filed from cities where Anwar was known to be. His earliest byline "Paladin d'Hevrais" is a reference to Anwar's birthplace Hef-rais in Bosnia. (In the Russian original, the name is Charles d'Hevrais, Paladin being Bromfield's change.) Fandorin points out that it was Paladin who had distracted Peter Yablokov from encrypting the order to attack Plevna by telling him Varvara had arrived, thus gaining the opportunity to change the text from "Plevna" to "Nikopol". Having exposed Paladin, Fandorin now clears the name of McLaughlin – who was no spy, but an honest journalist, and far from being in the British government's pay, he was an Irish nationalist. McLaughlin disappeared, not because he ran away but because Paladin had him ruthlessly killed and his body disposed of. Paladin/Anwar admits his identity, but then draws a gun and drags Varvara as a hostage into the bank's vault. Inside the vault, Anwar tells Varvara that after Sobolev entering Constantinople, the British fleet off the coast would open fire and Western powers would have declared war to Russia, bringing ruin to it. Even so, a Turkish regiment is advancing into San Stefano, originally planned to strike at Sobolev's rear. In the meantime, Anwar explains to Varvara that everything he has been doing is in the name of his ideals. His purpose is to defend the development of human rights, reason, tolerance and non-violent progress in the Western world against the expansion of the despotic and barbaric Russian Empire. His fatherland Turkey, which he deeply loves, is nevertheless the chess piece that he has planned to sacrifice or at least risk in his gambit in order to achieve a greater purpose – namely, to "protect humanity from the Russian threat". Anwar, a believer in Evolution rather than Revolution, dislikes both the present Romanov Dynasty ruling Russia and the Russian revolutionaries with whom Varvara sympathizes, and predicts that in future there will arise in Russia a dangerous force "taking in the worst from both the East and the West" - a kind of premonition of Stalin's Soviet Union. Varvara angrily objects to Anwar's condemnation of Russia, stating that it has great literature as exemplified in Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky. Anwar counters that Russian literature is pretty good, but in general literature is a toy and can't be very important. He remarks that despite the absence of great literature in Switzerland, life there is much more dignified than in Russia. In an aside, Anwar admits to being "a bit" in love with Varvara – though, given his dangerous way of life, he can't afford emotional entanglements. By the time their conversation has ended, it becomes clear that the Turkish attack has been driven off by Sobolev's soldiers, and Anwar, realizing that he is now trapped, lets Varvara out of the vault and kills himself. In March of 1878, the Russians, Romanians, and Turks sign the Treaty of San Stefano, ending the war. Varvara and Pyotr board the train back to Russia, and Fandorin is there to say goodbye before he leaves by ship for a diplomatic post in Japan – farthest possible from home, the only thing he asked when offered a reward. Varvara congratulates him for defeating Anwar, but Fandorin replies that Anwar did achieve his long-term goals: the peace treaty which the Russians extracted from the Ottomans is too generous, and the other great powers of Europe will force Russia to settle for less, leaving Russia weakened and impoverished with little to show for the war. Fandorin tries to say goodbye to Varvara but he cannot get the words out, and it is clear that they both have deep feelings for each other. Varvara takes his hand but says nothing, and boards the train, crying as she watches Fandorin while the train pulls away. The novel ends with a newspaper article proving Fandorin right; the European great powers – in particular, Britain – object to the treaty and will meet to agree on a new settlement much less favorable to Russia. 

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On the remote Caribbean island Ojeda an agitated population kills their despotic ruler Mariano Vargas. His secretary Ramón Vázquez takes over and tries to reinstate public order. Meanwhile, Alejandro Gual, leader of a special military unit, tries to take the place of Ramón Vázquez. Knowing that Ramón Vázquez had an affair with the dictator's wife Inés, he tries to turn the widow against her lover. 

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Patrick McCardle (Zac Efron) is a fifteen-year-old who is forced to play baseball by his former baseball player dad (William R. Moses). Patrick doesn't know what to do with his life. When he skips ball practice one day, he visits his friend Houston Jones (Bill Cobbs), a former champion steeplechase jockey. Houston dazzles Patrick with stories of when he was Patrick's age and in love with a rich white girl named Julie, who taught him to ride. At a game, Patrick is distracted by his teammate Chuck's (Rob Pinkston) older sister Jill (Crystal Hunt) and Patrick is knocked out by the pitch. Patrick's father asks him about his fall, and Patrick confronts him about pushing him into baseball. Patrick visits Houston after the game, and Houston tells him more stories, about Julie's death when she told Houston she was going to marry him. Patrick feels sorry and asks Houston to train him to steeplechase. Houston agrees, but Patrick's parents are appalled when he asked them for permission. His mother thinks it is too dangerous, and his father is concerned about Patrick taking riding lessons from a drunk black man. When they agree, Houston buys Patrick a horse named Rusty and tells Patrick to take care of him till he says to stop. Patrick meets again with Chuck and Jill and asks them to join him at Houston's barbecue; he also invites his parents. There, his parents begin to trust Houston more. Patrick starts to learn to ride Rusty as Jill tends to Houston's garden. One day, the rich town bully and steeplechase champion, Randy, destroys Houston's vegetable/fruit stand; Houston warns him to stop. Houston then starts to collapse while Randy leaves and Patrick arrives. Jill calls 9-1-1, but Houston refuses to go to the hospital and dies the next day, leaving Patrick devastated. Patrick drops out of the steeplechase race and stops taking care of Rusty. While walking around Houston's home on the day of the race, Jill finds a package addressed to Patrick with an envelope containing pictures of Patrick as a boy and a small carved horse figurine. She gives the package to Patrick; and he finds Houston's old racing silks and a letter. Patrick decides to enter the race and gets there just in time. Jill kisses Patrick before he leaves and sets up. Patrick, along with strong Rusty and Houston's voice in his head, wins the race. In the end, Patrick lays his trophy on Houston's grave, along with Houston's hat and his harmonica. 

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In a flashback, a single mother, Corrine Morgan-Thomas (Mary-Louise Parker) drives her seven-year-old twin boys Steven (Jake Cherry) and Philip (Jeremy Shada) to the doctor's office and learns that they have autism. Philip simply repeats what he hears others say, a condition known as echolalia, while Steven is completely nonverbal. After leaving the clinic in a very upset mood, she takes the boys shopping for groceries. Her visit to the supermarket is not a pleasant one, as her two boys begin screaming throughout the store and Steven wets himself, causing others to stare at them. Upon learning about their condition, her live-in boyfriend leaves because he knows raising twins with a mental disability will be difficult. Corrine then moves with her boys to another town and enrolls them in a public school. Their classmates are puzzled by their strange behavior, as well as their teachers. Corrine is then told at a meeting by the principal as well as several psychiatrists that they are not fit for public school, and that they will be sent to a special school. The local mental hospital then sends a learning therapist to their house in order to teach the boys basic language skills and prepare them for normal society. With his help and support, Philip's vocabulary expands, and Steven says his very first word, "Pizza". After he is done with teaching the boys, the psychiatrist moves to another city to work with other families. Over the course of several years, the boys flourish verbally, socially, and academically. However, some of their autistic characteristics still remain, as they have somewhat nasal, robot-like voices, engage in self-injurious habits, and are very sensitive to loud and sudden noises. They also have an obsession with Rocky from the Rocky films. On their first day of high school, Steven (Zac Efron) develops a crush on a girl named Jennifer (Alicia Morton). While chatting with Philip (Bubba Lewis) in the bathroom, Steven talks about Jennifer and says "Maybe she'll be my girlfriend." Another boy, an older boy with long hair, mocks Steven and pushes him, causing both of them to start screaming and crying. Corrine is called to the school from work by their special ed teacher, and convinces the boys to come out of the bathroom and go to lunch. At lunch, Jennifer decides to sit with the two boys. Steven sees several joggers outside from the hallway and decides to join the cross country team. Before the race, Steven sees Jennifer kiss another guy. Steven is hurt and confused. Corrine finds Steven sitting down on the grass looking sad, and she finds a love poem in his hands that Steven wrote for Jennifer. Then, Steven realizes he has to move on. He wins the first race he runs in and Philip gets into a special music school by playing his newfound guitar talent over the phone. Corrine then founds The Miracle Run Foundation for research into autism. Steven gives a speech about how his mother helped him and his brother with their autism. As the audience applauds at his speech, the credits mention about their lives from thereon and this ends the movie. 

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This is the story of a Mob lawyer turned mole with a million-dollar contract on his head who has clanged back and forth between sin and sainthood like a church bell clapper—a turbulent youth, a stint on Chicago's police force, law school, and then the inner sanctum of Chicago's leading mobsters and corrupt political officials. With wild abandon he chased crooked acquittals for the likes of Pat Marcy, originally an Al Capone protégé who had become the Mob's key political operative; ruthless Mafia Capo and gambling czar Marco D'Amico; and notorious hit man Harry Aleman. He dined with Mob bosses and shared "last suppers" with friends before their gangland executions. Cooley watched as Marcy and the Mob controlled the courts, the cops, and the politicians. Then, in a startling act of conscience, he walked into the office of the U.S. Organized Crime Strike Force and, without a pending conviction or a hit man on his tail, agreed to wear a wire on the same Mafia overlords who had made him a player. Cooley's tapes and testimony would be at the center of nine landmark trials that together exposed and then broke the Mob's unprecedented stranglehold on Chicago's government and court system. With stunning detail and brutal honesty, Cooley now tells the personal story behind the federal government's most successful Mafia investigation known as Operation Gambat (from Gambling Attorney). 

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In this installment after a house with a family home blows up and Lindsay rushes in to save whoever may have survived the blast, a group of killers known as August Spies vow to kill every three days. They target various political figures time and time again. Lindsay Boxer, with the San Francisco PD, Claire Washburn, the Medical Examiner, Cindy Thomas, a Chronicle reporter who recently broke up with her pastor boyfriend from the previous novel, and Jill Bernhardt an Assistant District Attorney who is revealed to have been a victim of spousal abuse for a while, dive into the case. The case takes a deadly turn when Jill is murdered. Oddly enough this actually leads the remaining three ladies to find a tie-in to a case that Jill's father prosecuted and to a cover-up years old that has launched this terrorist action. Lindsay resolves the case in typical fashion by bringing in the college professor that caused it all. She had previously decided to make a go of a relationship with her FBI laison Joe Molinari when he is introduced in the middle of the book. He is Deputy Director of Homeland Security. He ends up getting a call from the vice president while on a date with Lindsay. Lindsay and Joe have a date while traveling on the case, which ends up being mocked by her former partner (Warren J) while at work. Their second date is at Lt. Boxer's apartment although they ignore dinner because he comes early and they sleep together. Later she feels very guilty because Jill had just thrown out her abusive bullying husband, and ignored a chance to call her or visit with her because of the date. 

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Alex Stillman (Bret Harrison) is a law student who plays poker online and in home games. He competes in an online tournament where the final table is played live on TV. Alex reaches the final table, but is eliminated first after being outmatched by professional player Karen "The Razor" Jones. The final table broadcast is watched by retired player Tommy Vinson (Burt Reynolds), who feels that Alex has potential as a player but could use his help. Vinson tracks Alex down at a cash game and offers him his business card, which Alex refuses until Tommy impresses him by reading his last hand. Alex finally calls Tommy and spends a few days with him watching old videotapes of poker players and learning about tells and reading players. Tommy offers the kid a deal, he will stake Alex in poker games and they will split his winnings 50/50. When Alex asks why Tommy doesn't just play himself, he reveals that he hasn't played a hand in twenty years. After going broke and nearly losing his house and wife, Tommy agreed to never again play a hand at the risk of his wife leaving him. Tommy takes Alex to Las Vegas to play in a high-stakes cash game. He buys Alex in and watches the kid take a few beatings and lose money. Tommy pulls him off the table and reveals that Alex has a tell, which he corrects. Alex turns the game around and ends up cashing out ahead. Tommy suggests Alex relax a little and gets him to approach a beautiful woman at the bar named Michelle (Shannon Elizabeth). Alex awkwardly approaches her and convinces her to go on a date with him, and she spends the night with him. Tommy wants to take Alex to Louisiana to play in a poker tournament, but Alex is supposed to start his job at his father's law firm. Alex convinces his dad to give him a few extra days under the pretext of taking a trip with his friend. Tommy tells his wife he has to go to Cleveland for work and the pair head to the tournament. On the first day, Alex does really well and builds up a chip lead. Overnight, Tommy warns Alex that the other players will try to keep him awake with distractions such as crank phone calls and knocks at the door. Alex doesn't listen and loses sleep to the distractions, resulting in him busting out of the tournament. Upon returning home, Tommy is confronted by his wife Helen about the money he's been using. He admits to bankrolling Alex but swears he hasn't played a hand himself. Unmoved, Helen packs her things and leaves Tommy. Tommy takes Alex back to Las Vegas for another tournament, during which he tries to reconnect with Michelle but she doesn't return his calls. Alex does well at first but starts getting flustered when he runs into another tough female opponent. Alex finally finds his stride, finishing the tournament in the money and making $120,000. Michelle finally calls Alex back, and the two spend the night together. Alex tries to convince her to spend more time with him, but she tells him her father is in town and she has to leave. Later that night, while celebrating his win with Tommy, he sees Michelle with another man and realizes she is a prostitute. Tommy tacitly admits to hiring her to help Alex relax, and an enraged Alex storms off. The next morning, Alex leaves Tommy his share of the winnings at the hotel desk and tells him never to talk to him again. Alex returns home to his angry parents, who know he's been playing poker rather than work. When his father reminds him who paid for his law school, Alex throws his $60,000 at him. Shocked at the money Alex has made, his parents reluctantly agree to let him compete in the World Poker Tour tournament in a few weeks. Tommy, deciding he has nothing to lose, enters the tournament as well. The two play for several days, with Alex quickly building up a chip lead and Tommy slowly grinding his way up until both players reach the final table. That evening, Helen returns to Tommy at his hotel and apologizes for making him stay away from poker for so long. Alex's parents also arrive, finally supporting their son's poker playing. The next day, they both eliminate several players until it's down to just the two of them. In the final hand, Tommy busts Alex out with a pocket pair of jacks. Later in the evening, Tommy confronts Alex to ask about his last hand. Alex confirms Tommy's suspicion that he had a lower pair than Tommy. In a flashback, we see that Alex actually folded the winning hand in order to let Tommy have the title he wanted for so long. 

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Tommy Riley and his father have just moved to start a new life. Tommy's father has accumulated many gambling debts but has found a new job that requires him to travel extensively, leaving his son alone at home. Tommy also has a hard time fitting in at school, having crossed gang members. He takes a job at a local diner and enters into a romantic relationship with Dawn, the daughter of the owner, but is jumped by the gang members outside the restaurant. Seeing how well Tommy is able to fight, a local boxing promoter by the name of Pappy Jack offers Tommy a chance to fight in an illegal underground boxing operation. When two men arrive announcing that Tommy's father owes a large sum of money to pay off gambling debts, Jack convinces his boss, boxing promoter Jimmy Horn to buy out the debt, which forces Tommy to pay off his father's debts by boxing. Tommy enjoys a great deal of success and develops a friendship with Romano and Abraham "Lincoln" Haines, two fellow fighters. However, he continues to be harassed by gang members, and discovers that two of them, "Black Death" and "Short Cut" are boxers who fight dirty, using elbows, kicks, knees, and low blows, and counting on the crooked refs to overlook the clear violations. Tommy defeats Black Death in the ring, but Short Cut hides a fluid in his gloves, which he uses to blind Romano during a match. Unable to defend himself, Romano is brutally beaten in the ring and is declared brain dead by the doctors. Short Cut later tries the same trick on Tommy, but Tommy has learned to fight dirty, and defeats Short Cut. Meanwhile, Lincoln shows signs of possible brain damage and is told to quit fighting for at least 60 days or else suffer permanent brain damage. Despite this, Horn arranges a match between Lincoln and Tommy. Afraid of killing Lincoln, Tommy takes a beating until the two are unwilling to continue the match. In revenge, Horn, a former boxer who retired with only one defeat, punches Lincoln severely enough to knock him out of the ring. Furious, Tommy challenges Horn to a match. If Horn wins, Tommy will continue to work for him indefinitely, but if Tommy wins, his father's debt is wiped clean. Horn accepts on the condition that they fight bare-knuckle. Horn's vast experience with boxing initially gives him the upper hand, and Horn's confidence influences him to play with and humiliate Tommy as a result. Tommy eventually uses the various forms of advice he has received throughout his brief boxing experience to outthink Horn: he fakes a broken hand to give Horn even more confidence, and then uses the element of surprise to defeat Horn, freeing himself from Horn's contract. 

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Oxford students Arthur (Arthur Askey), Stinker (Richard Murdoch), and Albert (Graham Moffatt) are in danger of being "sent down" (expelled) for bad behaviour. Learning that the Dean of Bowgate College is an amateur Egyptologist, Arthur—who had just played the lead in a stage version of Charley's Aunt—poses as Albert's wealthy Aunt Lucy, who might finance an archeological expedition if the Dean is lenient on her nephew and his friends. Unfortunately, the real Aunt Lucy picks this day to pay a visit to Oxford herself, with calamitous consequences. 

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The film describes the carnage of extraterrestrial crafts landing on an area with many amorous teens. The plot deals with "Bionaut" (living) vessels, which have traveled back in time and have released small reconnaissance creatures that become violent when they get too far away from the Bionaut. 

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Christopher Pride wants to marry his girlfriend, Dr. Elizabeth Acord. However, she is too involved with her patients and she doesn't think that she would be able to leave them to live in Paris for a year. Pride decides to solve her patients' problems after finding out that most of them are merely despondent after having relationships go bad. Therefore, he decides to "date" these women, without Acord's knowledge, and give them back their self-esteem so that they will be less dependent on their doctor. Pride adopts a separate persona for each woman, targeted to be their ideal partner. Ringo Raintree the millionaire cowboy woos a Anna Jacque, a French patient. For southern belle Mary Lou Mauve he becomes Rutherford the zoologist (and Ruther's twin sister, Heather) and for passionate athlete Susan he becomes Warren, also an athlete. The film comes to a climax when all the women, including the psychiatrist, assemble at a party with Pride present. He quickly switches from one character to the next depending on which woman is present. 

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In 1989, the United States continues to be engaged in a Space Race with the Soviet Union. The two male astronauts manning the U.S. weather station on the Moon, Hoffman and Schmidlap, are suffering the effects of their long stay in space and need to be relieved, as Schmidlap regularly ties up Hoffman and has even knocked out his two front teeth. The sex-starved Schmidlap sits around drawing lewd pictures of naked women. Harold Quonset, the head of NAWA, is concerned that the situation with Hoffman and Schmidlap threatens to become an embarrassment to the agency. Furthermore, the Soviets have taken a step forward in the space race by placing the first (unmarried) male/female couple on the Moon. Quonset decides the United States should place the first married couple in space. With the next NAWA space launch looming, the newlywed astronauts scheduled for the mission, Ted and Peggy, split after Ted is surprised by the expectedly normal events of a wedding night (“you should hear what she wanted to do”). Quonset quickly turns to Peter Mattemore and Eileen Forbes, unmarried astronauts who have been at NAWA for years without having flown a mission. Forbes agrees to the marriage on the condition that they be married in name only, and their vows are exchanged as they are rushed up the gantry for their space launch. When they arrive on the Moon, they receive regular visits from the Soviet cosmonauts, Anna Soblova and Igor Baklenikov, living at the nearby Soviet lunar station. Antics ensue with vodka pill parties and the men preening for their beautiful female companions. The Soviets are suspected of trying to sabotage the American space station, but they are soon vindicated. Anna tricks Igor into marrying her by declaring she is pregnant, having gotten the idea for this from Eileen. The wedding is broadcast via satellite to the entire planet, with Peter acting as best man and Eileen as maid of honor. The media pick up on the Soviets being in line to have the first baby born on the Moon. NAWA head Harold Quonset tells his married astronauts of his unhappiness with the Soviets having scored this crucial first in the Space Race, insinuating that this is because Peter is less virile than Igor and Eileen less sexy than Anna. Stung by this, Eileen declares she is just as pregnant as Anna, delighting Mr. Quonset. After ending the call with Quonset, Eileen tells the startled Peter she's just as pregnant as Anna because Anna isn't pregnant at all. The two have truly fallen in love, and Eileen suggests they could make her pregnancy assertion retroactively true. They are just initiating this project as the story ends. 

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Gerald Clamson (Lewis) is a bank examiner who loves fishing on his annual two-week holiday. Unfortunately, one day at the ocean he reels in Syd Valentine (also played by Lewis), an injured gangster in a scuba diving suit. Syd tells Gerald about diamonds he has stolen from the other gangsters and hands him a map. Gerald escapes as frogmen from a yacht machine-gun the beach. They swim ashore, locate Syd and gun him down. Their leader Thor (Harold J. Stone) ensures Syd's demise by firing a torpedo from his yacht that goes ashore, blowing a crater into the beach. As the police ignore Gerald's story, Gerald heads to the Hilton Inn in San Diego where Syd claimed the diamonds were hidden. There he meets Suzie Cartwright (Susan Bay), an airline stewardess. While searching for the diamonds, he needs to avoid the hotel staff after inadvertently hurting the manager (Del Moore). Gerald disguises himself as a character similar to Professor Julius Kelp from The Nutty Professor, while trying to stay one step ahead of the other gangsters who are on his tail, as well as the hotel detectives led by the manager—all the while courting Suzie. As each of the gangsters see Gerald, an identical lookalike to the deceased Syd, they have nervous breakdowns; one imagining himself a dog, one turning into a Larry Fine lookalike, the other (Charlie Callas, in his usual character) becoming a stutterer. The one man Gerald meets who believes him, and identifies himself as a FBI special agent, turns out to be an escapee from an insane asylum. The movie climaxes in a chase through Sea World San Diego, where Gerald is pursued by Thor's mob, a rival group of gangsters who had made a deal with Syd to buy his diamonds, and a group of Chinese who smuggle the diamonds disguised as plastic pearls. Gerald disguises himself as a Kabuki dancer but is pursued until Suzie rescues him by flying by with a helicopter and dropping a rope ladder that Gerald escapes on. They return to the Pacific Ocean, where Syd reappears. The rival gangsters chase Syd into the ocean, and Gerald and Suzie walk away, deeply in love. The diamonds are never located. The final scene shows the narrator, Bogart (De Vol), facing the camera and solemnly announcing that the tale is true—then the camera pulls back as De Vol turns and walks away on the breakwater where the beginning and ending action had taken place. De Vol is wearing all of a business suit except trousers, and he is carrying a briefcase. 

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The first part of the story takes place in 60's. It's the love story between Gabriela and Renato. The viewers will witness their marriage, the birth of their daughter, also named Gabriela and Renato's death from Nicando's hand. The second part takes place in 80's. Gabriela is the grown daughter of Gabriela and Renato. She has a rebel personality and she pretends to be a man in order to sail on a boat. Then she will be courted by two men: Carlos and Fernando. At the end it's unclear whom she marries, because the viewers only see a hand that receives her at the altar. 

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Ashade (Abdel Kechiche), a New York City taxicab driver from Syria encounters a strange fare in Phoebe, played by Robin Wright Penn. The lead character, bitter from a recent divorce, forces friendship upon Ashade who accepts it very reluctantly. When she learns of Ashade's family's legal problems, she imposes upon him further. This imposition reveals a dangerous side to Phoebe, causing Ashade to flee their brief friendship. Phoebe retaliates in spite, turning Ashade's life upside-down. In order to put his life back in order, Ashade must seek out Phoebe and enlist her help, and in doing so, he learns about and falls prey to her dark secret. 

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Charles Dickens's story of a young man's journey to maturity. This version finds David Copperfield (Robin Phillips) as a young man, brooding on a deserted beach. In flashback, David remembers his life in 19th century England, as a young orphan, brought to London and passed around from relatives, to guardians, to boarding school. He relives his struggle to overcome the loss of his idyllic childhood and the torment inflicted by his hated stepfather after his mother's death. Then virtually abandoned on the streets of Victorian London, David Copperfield is flung into manhood and contends bravely with the perils of big-city corruption and vice; hardships which ultimately fuel his triumph as a talented and successful writer. 

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In the early 1970s, in a small Japanese village, lives Oyuki Ogino (Ana Martín), a beautiful woman, good and honest, whose beauty and physical attributes are used by her ambitious brother Yutaka Ogino (Salvador Sánchez), who forces her to work as a Geisha and begins to exploit her. Forced by her brother, Oyuki begins to work while men pay large amounts for her to entertain with her show. One of those men is Irving Pointer (Boy Olmi), a painter of English origin and the son of Sir Charles Pointer (Jorge Martínez de Hoyos), the ambassador of the United Kingdom in Japan. Irving begins to paint Oyuki and both end up falling in love, but Yutaka has other plans for his sister. He plans to marry Oyuki to Togo Fushoko (Yoshio), one of the richest men in Japan. Oyuki rejects Fushoko and unleash the fury of Yutaka. When Yutaka flees from justice after committing a crime, Oyuki can be together Irving. But Irving's mother, Lady Elizabeth (Martha Roth) denies that her son is related to a Japanese woman. Given the refusal of his mother, Irving decides to run away from home and marries Oyuki. The two manage to find happiness with the arrival of their first child, who was named Yuriko. Furious Yutaka decides to take revenge on his sister and kills Irving. Yutaka manages to escape. All evidence does not favor Oyuki, who is captured, tried and sentenced to twenty years in prison. Her daughter Yuriko, two years old, is sent with her paternal grandparents. After fifteen long years, Yutaka confesses his crime before dying, allowing Oyuki released from prison. Free at last, Oyuki travels in search of her daughter Yuriko (Cecilia Gabriela), who is now an sophisticated English lady of 17 years old and sees her mother as a stranger. 

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Huayna Capac, the last grand Inca, after 500 years of his death, prepares a warrior called El Dorado to gather three gems of Time, Energy and Matter, and fight Aguirre, the Spanish leader. The action begins in an asteroid space station called Paititi (its surface is marked with lines similar to the Nazca lines) from which El Dorado hurls to space flying a Tumi-shaped spaceship. The quest brings him dodging asteroids, dogfighting with Spanish spaceships, fighting his way through mazes and performing puzzles (rituals) to summon the mummy of Pachacutec the Renovator for hints. The directions lead him to the statues of the "Founders of Huaca", Mama Ocllo and Manco Capac, who give him the Jewel of Time. On his way back, he is captured on board the Spanish mothership (actually a galleon flying in space) trying to escape. Afterwards he rids Paracas (a moon marked by a shape similar to the Paracas Candelabra) from Spanish ships and he meets the Aclla who acknowledges him as the new Sapa Inca and gives him the Jewel of Matter. The Jewel of Energy is guarded by Mayans on a planet. After wandering in a maze and passing through puzzles, El Dorado reaches the "Intihuatana of Machu Picchu", where he claims the final jewel. Afterwards he uses them in combination to solve the final puzzle and is awarded the sacred tumi, sign of his anointment as son of the sun. In the final stage El Dorado finds himself again in Aguirre's galleon, where the two duel against each other. 

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Marisa (Edith González) was about to marry the love of her life Cesar (Jaime Camil) when the wedding was suddenly interrupted by a woman claiming to be pregnant with Cesar's baby. Distraught and heartbroken, Marisa then becomes a 'woman of wood': A woman hard to get to and who strives to continue her life alone. Cesar tries to amend his fault by marrying the mother of his daughter and tries to be happy. But he can't forget Marisa and turns to drinking. Carlos (Gabriel Soto) is an idealist fighting against illegal logging operations. Marisa and Carlos meet thanks to their common interest in discovering the truth behind the sell of illegal wood. Marisa discovers that her sister Aida (Ludwika Paleta) is in love with Carlos. Having had experience with men, Marisa decides to romance him to keep him away from her sister so she won't get hurt. Slowly but surely, the attraction between Marisa and Carlos grows and they begin to fall in love. Aida feels betrayed by her sister and the things get even more complicated when Cesar returns to Marisa's life. Cesar's wife dies in an automobile accident and his little daughter Antonia, becomes temporarily paralyzed. Cesar decides to return to where it all started and will have to confront Marisa. Marisa is impacted with the return of Cesar; he discovers that she is a different woman but still the same one he loves. He is saddened to find out she loves Carlos and is willing to fight for her love. Piedad (Maya Mishalska) hates Marisa with a passion even though she's supposedly her aunt. She has a sick, obsessive love for Cesar and is, as Marisa will later discover, the main reason why Marisa and Cesar's wedding was interrupted. Will Marisa allow her relationship with Carlos blossom even though her sister's heart is breaking to a million pieces? Or will Marisa forgive Cesar and give him another opportunity for him to prove if he really loves her as much as he says? But she is raped, becomes pregnant, and does not know who is the father. Efrain (Carlos Cámara Jr.) starts an enormous fire at the ranch where Marisa is with her father. Thankfully, Cesar manages to save her before it was too late but the damage was already done. Marisa is left horribly disfigured, so much that she looks like a monster, totally unrecognizable. After several surgeries, Marisa wears a mask. After the mask is removed, Marisa looks like a complete different person. Marisa (now Ana Patricia Rojo) is even stronger and it will be harder for Carlos and Cesar to fight for her love. But after all Marisa only loves Cesar. Carlos and Aida are happily in love. Cesar and Marisa are living a beautiful romance once again. Everything seems to be going well -- so much so, that Cesar proposes once again to Marisa and she agrees. Cesar can't contain his joy as the date gets nearer, but what lies ahead is doom. Piedad is still sickly in love with him and tries one last desperate attempt to retain him at her side. Cesar becomes warned that if he married Marisa, his daughter will pay the price. The big day finally arrives. Cesar is shocked to discover that his daughter's nanny is part of Piedad's plot. If Cesar says "I do" at the altar, the nanny will inject a poisonous substance to his daughter and she would die a slow and painful death. With all the pain in his heart, at the altar Cesar tells the priest that he does not accept Marisa as his wife. In front of the guests, Cesar tells Marisa how much he hates her and that he was only marrying her for revenge for all those years which she didn't correspond his love. After leaving the wedding, Cesar and Antonia are kidnapped and held hostage by Piedad. Marisa is deeply emotionally hurt. Her wedding was interrupted again. Alone and sad, she is consoled by a fellow medic, Marco Antonio who falls in love with her. When Cesar is finally able to escape Piedad, he rushed to Marisa to explain what happened. Marisa believes him. But when he tries to kiss her, something pushes her away from him. Even though she loves him, a phobia has grown in her that is stronger than her. Every time she gets close to him, she remembers how he abandoned her for the second time at their wedding. Cesar is hurt and believes that she is in love with Marco Antonio. Around this time, Piedad supposedly dies in an auto accident. After several arguments, Cesar and Marisa end their relationship and she begins dating Marco Antonio. But Marisa can't stop loving Cesar, and this makes Marco Antonio angry. Cesar meets Alondra and is immediately fascinated by and starts a relationship with her. As much as he tries to make the relationship work, he can't forget Marisa. Alondra can tell. Cesar and Marisa beg each other for forgiveness and swear to never let anything separate them ever again. But Piedad is alive and more determined than ever to destroy Marisa and Cesar. She teams up with Marco Antonio to separate them. Will Piedad be able to separate Marisa and Cesar a third time? Will Marisa and Cesar finally be happy after all they've been through? 

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The player assumes the role of , White Album male protagonist. Tōya is a twenty-year-old university student in his second year attending the . He has a timid, yet vulgar personality, and is often unorganized. He often laments the lack of time he has to spend with , who he is romantically attracted to. Yuki, White Album main heroine, is an idol singer who is rising in popularity, and is affiliated with the Ogata Productions. She has a warm and kindhearted personality, and is in her second year at university. She and Tōya were students at the same high school. , another heroine, is a popular idol singer with the same management agency as Yuki. Rina is elegant and intelligent, and good friends with Yuki. She is lonely because of her busy work schedule and develops feelings for Tōya. Tōya also meets several other characters throughout the story. , is a gentle and caring third year university student. She likes to read and cook, and like Yuki, she attended high school with Tōya prior to entering university. has known Tōya since kindergarten and is in her second year of university. Haruka is very quiet and although she is athletic, generally prefers leisure sports such as taking walks. She used to play tennis but stopped after her brother's untimely death. , White Album fifth heroine, is a high school student whom Tōya tutors. Mana has an impudent and aggressive personality. She is antisocial and dislikes interacting with others, to the extent that at times she skips both school and Tōya's tutoring sessions. 

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Yoon Shi-yeon (Kim Tae-hee) is a "gumiho" (or nine-tailed fox) living undercover in the human world. She has a dark past when her whole family was massacred, leaving her an orphan. By day, Shi-yeon is an employee at a natural history museum. By night, she's a top-ranking woman warrior in the Nine-Tailed Fox clan, charged with preserving the delicate balance between man and fox. But her world is sent spinning when an atrocious serial murder, where the victims have had their internal organs gouged out is uncovered. Detective Kang Min-woo (Jo Hyun-jae) believes the murders may relate to the organ trafficking trade, and goes undercover in a seedy organ smuggling ring. But Min-woo's cover is blown, and it's only through the intervention of Shi-yeon and Nine-Tailed Fox warrior Moo-young (Jun Jin) that he's able to survive. But now he's seen their true identities as Nine-Tailed Foxes. 

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Two slave brothers, African-American Levi (Anthony Scott) and albino Sunshine (Chris Robinson), discover a treasure map while digging on the plantation of their master Striker (Ted Cassidy). Though Striker initially takes the map from them, they take it back and escape, determined to find the treasure in order to set themselves free. Striker pursues them, eventually stopping at a seedy bar to recruit helpers who will aid him in his pursuit; he recruits a mysterious bounty hunter, as well as the bartender (Robert Leslie). The two slaves follow the map continuously through the woods and swamps, regularly confronting and escaping various dangers from snakes to a group of rednecks. They briefly find refuge in an escaped slaves' camp, but Striker and his men follow the trail straight to the camp and run out the population. Striker is noticeably disturbed at the bartender for killing a woman and an old man, and briefly pulls his own gun on the man. The brothers continue on further and briefly find refuge in the stilt house of a kind woman (Phyllis Robinson), before a storm the following night knocks over a lantern and starts a fire that burns the house down. They continue on into the forest, where they encounter a Native American, whom Levi strangles to death before they appropriate his canoe. The three of them use the canoe to follow the river to the open ocean before stopping at a port town. However, the next morning, they discover that the woman has abandoned them and several of their supplies have been stolen. Nevertheless, they continue towards the treasure, thinking that they are getting closer. Striker, the bartender, and the bounty hunter finally catch up to Levi and Sunshine at a beach, where Striker has a change of heart and even betrays and stabs the bartender. However, the bounty hunter refuses to give up the hunt, and when Sunshine attempts to flee into the water with the map, the bounty hunter guns him down, with the map washing away in the current. Levi overpowers the bounty hunter and beats him to death with the butt of his own rifle before the reformed Striker stops him and comforts him, even helping him carry Sunshine's body to shore. The film ends with Striker and Levi watching the sunset over the ocean before the end credits roll. 

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King Conan, in his mid-sixties, grows restless - especially since the death of his beloved wife Zenobia. With the approach of old age, what he most dreads is to die in bed - helpless, surrounded by physicians and whispering courtiers. He would much rather die in battle - but there seems little prospect of that, since he himself made Aquilonia powerful and prosperous while eliminating virtually all threats. The prospect he faces as King is many boring years of tax administration and abjudicating complicated legal cases. Meanwhile, Conan's eldest son, also called Conan, is now twenty years old - a very worthy son and heir who has already given a very good account of himself at the age of thirteen (Conan of Aquilonia), and is fully ready to assume the throne. Suddenly, there is a new crisis: Conan's old friend and loyal supporter, Count Trocero of Poitian, is snatched away from the Council Chamber itself by Red Shadows, mystical entities of unknown origin. Although it happened in front of Conan himself, inside a room filled with courtiers and guards, there was nothing anyone could do against these insubstantial shadows who suddenly appear, grab a man, and disappear along with him. This is followed by the Red Shadows striking again and again, snatching at random men and women of all ages or social positions. As would later turn out, these sinister acts were perpetrated by the wizard priests of the dark god Xotli, descendants of refugees from sunken Atlantis, who settled on the other side of the ocean and seek to placate their demon god's voracious appetite for human sacrifice. In his troubled sleep, Conan is visited by the ghost of a wise and ancient prophet, Epemitreus, who tells him that the source of the Red Shadows is in the unknown lands beyond the Western Ocean. Epemitreus, speaking for the gods, tells Conan that this is a threat to the whole world, and charges him to do what he was half-inclined to do anyway - i.e., abdicate, sail across the ocean, track the Red Shadows to their source, and eliminate the threat. That very night, Conan writes out his abdication letter and bids farewell to his son who would become King Conan II, with some final advice on how to be a King: "Discount nine-tenths of all flattery, and never punish the bearer of bad news." At a pirate hideout on the Barachan Islands, Conan finds out that his old reputation as the pirate captain, Amra the Lion, is very much alive. He and his old comrade, Sigurd of Vanaheim, have no trouble in recruiting a highly spirited and polyglot crew of pirates while setting off westwards on board The Red Lion. They emerge victorious from their first encounter with the dark priests, one of whom is guiding a magical green galley with no oarsmen in sight. However, during his second encounter, an armada of Dragon Ships sent by the Xotli priests overcome Conan and his crew. All the pirates are knocked unconscious by sleeping gas and taken ashore, to be eventually sacrificed to Xotli with their hearts torn out of their chests. Conan alone manages to escape, stealing a breathing apparatus from one of his attackers and diving into the sea. After some underwater adventures (he is threatened by a giant octopus and a shark; the two start fighting each other and forget about him), Conan comes ashore. Finding himself in a completely strange city with no idea of the language or culture, Conan finds his bearings at record speed. First, he finds refuge with a prostitute named Catlaxoc, while learning from her the language and customs of the ancient city of Ptahuacan. Soon, Conan proves to Catlaxoc and himself that in his sixties he's still capable of pleasing love- making, and breaking her heart with his departure a few days later. Then, realizing that a city this big must have a flourishing underworld, he makes contact with a local crime boss, Metamphoc, and whom he instantly reaches a perfect understanding "between two old thieves". With the help of Metamphoc and his Guild of Thieves, Conan journeys through the vast caverns deep beneath the city, in an effort to save his crewmembers before they are sacrificed. The underground route is highly dangerous, and for a moment it seems that Conan's long and illustrious career would end with him being devoured by a swarm of giant rats. Fortunately, he overcomes this threat as well. After traveling across an underground river, Conan arrives underneath a dark pyramid, at the top of which the victims are sacrificed. Their life force is greedily drunk by a physically-manifested Xotli, while the victim's bodies are thrown into a cavern and eaten by flightless dragons (in fact, giant lizards). Conan, pursued by some of these dragons, manages to open a giant doorway crafted from copper and unleashes the monsters onto the gathered Xotli priesthood. The dragon's entrance comes in the nick of time to save Sigurd and the other pirates from being sacrificed, creating a distraction which enables them to fight off their captors, while joined by Conan himself. But aside from the priests and their soldiers, there is also the direct threat of Xotli in person - the demon-god hovering in the air, annoyed at the interruption of his meal, and correctly identifying Conan as the source of his problems. Conan finds himself in a titanic mental struggle with Xotli. He resists the dark god to his utmost, but even the strongest mortal cannot win against a god. However, before sending Conan on this mission, Epemitreus had provided him with a powerful talisman for just such a contingency. Smashing the talisman summons Mithra, an Aquilonian god, in person - who is well able to deal with Xotli. Mithra warns Conan and his pirates, as well as the citizens of Ptahuacan, to flee from the vicinity. Soon, a titanic struggle between the two gods occur, in which the sacrificial pyramid and much of the city's center is destroyed, and Xotli is finally banished for good. When the terrified citizens return from the countryside during their escape, they discover that Metamphoc and his thieves have taken control of the battered city. While not an ideal ruler, the crime boss would in Conan's view be a definite improvement over the murderous priests. In the prisons, hundreds of intended victims are found and released, but nothing more is heard of Conan's old friend, Count Trocero of Poitian. Sadly, it seems that for him, Conan's overthrow of the dark priests came too late. The novel ends with Conan literally sailing off into the sunset: "A few hours later, the great ship, which the natives of Mayapan were to call Quetzlcoatl - meaning "winged (or feathered) serpent" in their uncouth tongue - lifted anchor. She sailed south and then, skirting the Antillian Isles, into the unknown West. But whither, the ancient chronicle, which endeth here, sayeth not." 

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Timothy "Dildo/Dunph" Dunphy (Shawn Hatosy), is in the Class of 1974 in his high school senior year living in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, comes from a troubled single parent working-class family, and is friends with those that have aspirations which do not exceed smoking marijuana at the water tower that has a view of the town. His father, Pat (Alec Baldwin), suffers from his wife committing suicide and appears naïve when the boys come back to the Dunphy's house to get a bong. A regularly held poker game is in progress. Pat insists that the boys be respectful and come in to say hello. The boys' intention is undetected by Pat that they are using drugs when Dunph's wheelchair-using younger brother, Jackie (Tommy Bone), attempts to hand off the bong wrapped in Dunph's coat. It falls to the floor. Jackie suggests that it is a musical horn which Pat's friend, Joey (George Wendt), asks Dunph to demonstrate, only able to make sounds about which Pat is dismissive. Pat's friends chuckle at Pat's reaction. Off the boys go on their adventures. The guys head home with Dunph at the wheel but he is unable to see the road with the cloud of marijuana smoke filling the cab. He rear-ends a police vehicle. Pat's poker game player, Caveech, uses his influence with a local judge to replace a reform school sentence with the stipulation of parole graduating high school at Cornwall Academy, a Connecticut boys' boarding school with a sister school nearby under the same name. Failure to graduate vacates the terms of parole and he will serve a one year jail sentence. He meets the rigid dorm master, Mr. Funderburk (Timothy Crowe), who emphases learning the school rules book. Dunph learns that new friend Wheeler and other new schoolmates, a class of people that seem to have more opportunities than himself, are involved in their own mischief just like the boys back home. Billy Fu is one particular example. He is a middle eastern exchange student with "the best reefer on campus". He routinely misses classes without repercussion because his father pledges a large donation to the school on the condition that Billy graduate. Dunph is no longer just any student at the school when "Drugs" Delaney (Jon Abrahams), writes Dunph with his particular colorful words and addressing the letter in the most simplest of ways that the school has to open it to learn of the contents; Dunph has low regard for both the school and Mr. Funderburk. Dunph routinely gets sanctioned with work hours as punishment for his school rules transgressions. He also develops a friendship with a sister school student, Jane Weston (Amy Smart), regarded as "hands down, the coolest girl in school". A romance develops and through her advice he learns about personal fulfillment which could be achieved by an education. She and others are found out by Mr. Funderburk smoking marijuana and drinking alcohol in a dorm room of the boys' dorm. The incident is resolved, unknown to Dunph's knowledge until too late, with Jane expelled for school rules violations. Dunph feels responsible for dashing Jane's goal of attending Brown University following graduation. He concludes: Wheeler's acceptance at Yale University is weighed heavily by a letter of recommendation from Funderburk and Wheeler was caught with marijuana during an earlier raid; therefore Wheeler made his own deal with Funderburk to inform on others which resulted in Jane being expelled. Dunph resolves to see Jane's college plans revitalized by speaking with the Dean at Brown University, as he explains that she was the innocent party in the incident. Dunph comes to terms with his father's apprehension discussing the death in the family because the latter felt responsible for imposing on her a life that she could not handle; she being too young when they married, depressed and agoraphobic. Dunph refuses to shake Funderburk's hand at the graduation ceremony in the auditorium and exits after asking his classmates for his "luggage". He then meets up with his father and Jackie as they arrive. Pat hands over an acceptance letter from the Community College of Rhode Island where Dunph points out that everyone is accepted although he could then transfer to a "senior college...where people sleep over and shit." Pat congratulates Dunph for being the first of the family to go to college and the younger brother not to be trumped surmises the possibility that it just very well may be that Jackie himself may be the first to graduate. 

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Suriya (Suriya) is a medical college student. Priya (Jyothika) is his girlfriend, Sethu Vinayagam (Sivakumar) is his father, and Raghuram (Raghuvaran) is his elder brother, who is the district collector. Suriya is the youngest son of the family, and this gives much heartburn to Raghuram. Their rivalry begins from childhood and can be illustrated by the scene where the elder brother pinches his baby brother just to see him cry. The jealousy grows into adulthood. Raghuram's aim in life is to see Suriya's life beset with problems, thanks to him. However, Suriya and his parents are unaware of the jealousy that has possessed Raghuram. When Raghuram discovers the love between Suriya and Priya, he passes on the word to Priya's elder brother, who is a known rowdy around the area. He does this thinking the rowdy would manage to beat up Suriya and perhaps separate both Suriya and Priya. This plan backfires, when the rowdy is more than happy to get them both married because he cares about his sister's happiness. Raghuram then pushes Suriya over a cliff edge. Later, in court, Suriya is revealed to be alive and unites with his family and Priya, and Raghuram is sent for treatment. 

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Martin (Nikolaj Coster Waldau) gets a student job as night watchman at the Forensic Medicine Institute. When making his rounds he finds he must go to where the deceased people are kept. At the same time, a series of murders occur among women in Copenhagen, and as mysterious and unexplained things start to happen in the medical department. 

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Suriya (Suriya), the main character, kills the villains who murder his family and had been sent to jail. During his time in jail, a well-respected minister celebrates his daughter's birthday in prison. His daughter is impressed by Suriya's talent in Violin percussion and convinces her father to grant her special permission to learn music from him. During this time, they fall in love with each other, and opposition grows from the girl's parents and the police department. Then, they elope. They come to a remote town where they witness the murder of a collector in the railway station during broad daylight, but no one seems to care. They then see that the man who murdered the collector is the chief of the village, Periyanna (Vijayakanth), so they try to oppose him. In their time at the village, they learn about his past and change their mind about him. He promises them to get them married. The movie then moves towards the climax as whether the village chief will be successful in getting those two lovers married or the girl's father will be successful in separating them by using the legal system against them. 

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Surya (Suriya) works as a receptionist in a lodge in Chennai. He, along with his friend Gopi (Ramesh Khanna), manages the entire lodge. Actually, the lodge is owned by Surya's father but has been leased due to financial troubles. Radha (Sneha) is the daughter of the new manager (Balu Anand) for the lodge who stays next to the lodge along with her mother (Sathyapriya) and family. Radha gets attracted towards Surya upon seeing his good nature, but Surya tells his past love story to Radha. A few years back, Nirmala (Laila) lived in the same house where Radha lives now. Surya likes Nirmala and helps her family financially. Slowly, Surya and Nirmala fall in love, and Nirmala's parents (Thalaivasal Vijay and Pallavi) decide to get them married. Selvam (Ramji) is Suriya's friend who stays with him during his initial days. Later, Selvam secures a good job and starts earning well. Selvam also gets attracted towards Nirmala and tries to impress her. Nirmala's parents consider Selvam to be a better match for Nirmala as he earns more than Surya. They convince Nirmala to marry Selvam. Surya gets heartbroken knowing this, but one day, he finds Selvam in a shopping mall with another girl. Surya understands that Selvam has no intention of marrying Nirmala and is planning only for an illegitimate relationship with her. Surya informs this to Nirmala, who misunderstands that he is trying to break her relationship with Selvam by cooking up false stories. Nirmala, along with her family, moves to a big house given by Selvam. The story comes to the present, and Radha is even more impressed upon listening to Surya's past love story. One day, Surya finds Nirmala and gets to know that Selvam has broken the promise to marry her and humiliated her and her family and they had to leave everything and return to poverty. Surya is worried seeing Nirmala and her family's poor state and again offers help. Nirmala had plans of pursuing MBBS before. Surya helps her in writing the entrance examination. She gets admission only in a private medical college where the fee is high. Surya sells his lodge to the lessee and gives the money to Nirmala to use it for the education fee. Five years pass by, and Nirmala completes her medical degree and gets a job posting, as well. All these years, Surya gave her financial and moral support in pursuing her education. Meanwhile, Radha also remains unmarried as she loves Surya, but she never expressed it to him. Nirmala is about to leave to another city for a job along with her family. At the railway station, she conveys her interest in marrying Surya, who refuses her proposal by saying that he helped her only because he once loved her and didn't wish to see her in poverty, but did not harbour any feelings for her. He says that he knows that Radha is in love with him and that she has been declining all marriage alliances coming her way for the last five years waiting for Surya. Surya also says that Radha's love is more genuine than Nirmala's because Nirmala ditched him when she found a better guy than Surya, while Radha was rejecting all other proposals for him. Radha overhears the conversation and feels happy. The movie ends with both Surya and Radha getting united. 

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Vishwa (Suriya) and Nilani (Preetha Vijayakumar) fall in love. Her mother does not approve, but she goes along with it. Complications arise when Vishwa exhibits "fashion" photos that he has taken of Nilani, which further upsets her mother. Then it comes to light that Surya's father Santhosh (Prakash Raj) had an affair, and things take a dramatic, tragic turn for the lovers. In the end, both families arrive at the airport to prevent Nilani from boarding the flight, but to their bad luck, they could not stop it. Nilani commits suicide by swallowing poison from her ring, and Vishwa, who gets hit by a wall, turns mentally challenged with the behavior of a child. 

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Kavitha, who is part of a large family, is to be married to Chandramohan, a lawyer. Kavita was playing with a little girl while Chandru is seen capturing photos of statues. Kavitha's brother (Nassar), who wrongly assumes both of them to be in love with each other, starts hitting Chandru. The whole family suspects Kavitha for falling in love and refuses to believe her explanation. When Kavitha disappears from home, her family assumes Chandru of abducting her and gets him arrested. Chandramohan fights on behalf of Chandru with Kavitha revealing the actual reason. Chandramohan advises Kavitha's family to get her married to Chandru, to which they accept. 

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The film starts with the police arresting Aadhikesavan's (Suresh Gopi) men as suspects for burning MLA Malarvannan's (Bala Singh) liquor shop. Aadhi sends Dheenadhayalan aka Dheena (Ajith Kumar), his adopted brother, to attack the false witnesses in this case and bail them out. This leads to further conflicts between Adhi, Dheena and Malarvannan and Dheena ends up chopping off Malarvannan's hand. Meanwhile, Dheena falls in love with a girl named Chitra (Laila). After a little bit of pursuing and getting to know one another, they fall in love, and when Chitra comes to know that Dheena is involved in rowdyism, she stands by her decision to be with him because of Dheena's essential good character. Meanwhile, Dheena comes to know that Ashok (Shyam Ganesh) has teased his sister Shanthi and thrashes him. A little later, he finds that Ashok has again given a love letter to Shanthi and beats him up, but comes to know that he is Chitra's brother. Chitra tells that Shanthi is also in love with Ashok. Dheena realises this misunderstanding and agrees to help them get married. Finding difficulties in obtaining Aadhi's permission, Shanthi elopes with Ashok and gets critically injured in an accident. In the hospital, Shanthi asks for Dheena's promise to protect Ashok's family from Aadhi before she succumbs to her injuries. Aadhi, enraged by his sister's death, orders Dheena to kill the family of Ashok. But Dheena refuses and tells that Shanthi was also in love with him. Aadhi refuses to believe this and misunderstands the reason for Dheena's refusal to obey him is since he loves the boy's sister Chitra. Aadhi swears that he will kill everyone responsible for this including Dheena and the brothers become sworn enemies. Dheena moves to Chitra's flat to protect her family, but Ashok is intimidated and does not believe his intentions. Aadhi kills one of Ashok's friend and lands in jail. But Dheena continues to protect the family at various instances from Aadhi's men, and they all understand Dheena's good intentions. Aadhi gets released and orders his men to kill Dheena and Chitra's family. The MLA Malarvannan finds about the brothers' enmity and tries to join hands with Aadhi to get his revenge on Dheena, but Aadhi refuses to get him involved. Malarvannan, however, is determined to get his revenge on Dheena and sends his henchmen under the guise that they all belong to Aadhi's group. Dheena finds out about this and fights them off, but Malarvannan's men stab Chitra. Meanwhile, Aadhi comes to know about Shanthi's love for Ashok from some of her friends and realises his mistake and joins forces with Dheena once again and fights off Malarvannan and his men. Knowing that Malarvannan was responsible for this, Aadhi tries to kill him, but Dheena stops him and tells that if he kills him, someone will avenge and this chain could continue and asks him to stop the violence. Chitra recovers from her injuries and finds that Aadhi has accepted their family. Aadhi finally declares Dheena to be his brother hereafter and they are all united. 

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Albert Hackett is a middle-class man in late 19th-century Britain, who is used to getting the final word over his wife Victoria and their five children. 

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The story starts with narration by Madhav (Madhavan) himself. Maddy is the son of a music shop owner Deendayal Shastri (Anupam Kher) who hopes that Maddy will someday take over his shop. Instead, Maddy is a total brat, not serious about studies and notorious in his college. In contrast to him is his arch-rival Rajeev "Sam" Samrao, a model student with whom Maddy is at constant loggerheads. The animosity goes so far that Maddy even tries to frame Sam. Sam challenges Maddy to a one-on-one fight, to which Maddy happily agrees. But the fight gets interrupted in between by the professors. Later at Sam's graduation party, Maddy again tries to challenge Sam, but this time, Sam denies it and lets him go. Sam graduates and leaves the college but promises Maddy that one day, he will complete what was started (i.e., the fight). Three years later, Maddy is working as a software instructor at a private company. His attitude has mellowed a lot but not changed. On his trip to Delhi, he sees a girl dancing in the rain with some kids. He only gets a glimpse of her and is smitten by her beauty, calling her "my kinda girl." Later, he and his college cronies attend a former classmate's wedding where, by luck, Maddy spots the girl again and learns that her name is Reena Malhotra (Dia Mirza). He is deeply attracted to her and tries to learn more about her but in vain. However, destiny makes them meet again when he sees her in Mumbai. Soon he learns that Reena is set to get engaged to Rajeev – a childhood friend of hers, living in the USA. Maddy also learns that Reena doesn't know what Rajeev looks like now and that he is coming to India next week to meet her. Maddy now heads over heels in love with Reena, is disheartened at the thought of losing his love. Upon being persuaded by his father and friends, Maddy decides to pretend to be Rajeev and tell Reena his true identity when the time is right. He shows his love for Reena and they spend a good time together in those five days. Reena, who previously liked him only as a friend, falls in love with him too. Both of them are even about to kiss but, Maddy decides not to. Everything goes well and Maddy decides to reveal his identity when Reena confesses her love to him. Unfortunately, before he can do so, the real Rajeev comes back and Reena is shocked to learn about Maddy's deception. She decides to call off her relationship with Maddy who Maddy tries to convince Reena about his true intentions, but she refuses to talk to him. Frustrated, Maddy decides to threaten Rajeev to back off from the marriage. Maddy is shocked to see that Rajeev is none other than Sam, his college rival. Sam is even more infuriated to learn his impostor is actually his old rival in college whom he hates. Rajeev believes that Maddy is getting involved in all this because of their rivalry. Maddy tries to talk to Reena and tell her the truth properly, but she is still not convinced with him. After repeated attempts to talk to Reena fail and Rajeev and Reena's wedding date is decided. Maddy lets Rajeev go back to Reena and tells his friends that they all committed a grave mistake and he says that they should all forget about her. Reena is no better off without him either, as she finds it very difficult to forget him. Though the enmity between Sam and Maddy is renewed, Sam cannot help but notice that Reena is marrying him only because she is mad at Maddy. Finally, Rajeev confronts Reena and asks her whether she loves him or Maddy. In the meantime, Maddy decides to go to San Francisco, California, taking an offer made to him by his current employer, which initially he had declined. When Rajeev realizes that Reena still loves Maddy, he takes her to the airport. Rajeev and Maddy spot each other. Maddy thinks that Rajeev has come to rebuke him once more. Rajeev hands Reena over to Maddy, upon which the duo confess their feelings for each other. Rajeev is heartbroken but feigns his old attitude towards Maddy saying that "we can never be friends" and leaves them. Reena and Maddy have united once again. Maddy holds Reena in his arm and holds her up and they both live happily after. 

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The mysterious Michael Rimmer (Cook) appears at a small and ailing British advertising agency, where the employees assume he is working on a time and motion study. However, he quickly begins to assert a de facto authority over the firm's mostly ineffectual staff and soon acquires control of the business from the incompetent boss Ferret (Arthur Lowe). Rimmer then succeeds in establishing the newly invigorated firm as the country's leading polling agency, and begins to make regular TV appearances as a polling expert. He subsequently moves into politics, acting as an adviser to the leader of the Tory opposition, and then becomes an MP himself, for the constituency of Budleigh Moor (a reference to Cook's frequent collaborator, Dudley Moore), along the way acquiring a trophy wife (Vanessa Howard). Relying on a combination of charisma and deception—and murder—he then rapidly works his way up the political ladder to become prime minister (after throwing his predecessor off an oil rig). Rimmer then gains ultimate control by requiring the populace to engage in endless postal voting on trivial matters. At last, exhausted, they acquiesce in one final vote which passes dictatorial power to him. Ferret attempts to assassinate Rimmer as he and his wife ride through the capital in an open-topped convertible, but fails and falls to his death. 

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The storyline is a mix of horror and whodunnit, with a police detective, Lieutenant Kinderman, investigating a series of murders that have all the hallmarks of a serial killer who was shot by police (but whose body was never recovered) many years previously. The slayings have a blasphemous theme to them, such as a child crucified and a priest being headless. Kinderman's investigations lead him to a mental asylum where there are a number of suspects, including a psychiatrist and one of his own patients. There, Kinderman begins to find links between the victims and events in the previous novel, the exorcism of the twelve-year-old girl, Regan. Kinderman entertains philosophical thoughts of his own, such as trying to work out how the concept of evil (specifically relating to the murders) fits in with God's plans for humanity. Kinderman frequently alludes to his favorite novel, The Brothers Karamazov, especially when he goes off on a philosophical tangent. 

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One night a girl is slain in the woods of a small town, two teenagers, Sam and Les, inadvertently cross the killer's path while robbing the hens of Victor the school bully. According to Sam Edwards the film is not as bleak as the novel. Small-town New Zealand in the 1950s is puritanical on the surface but depraved to its depths. 

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In pre-agricultural Europe, the hunter-gatherers of the Forest live in clans, each represented by a particular animal or life form. Torak and his father, of "Wolf Clan", live together in the forest. During Torak's twelfth year, his father ("Fa") is killed by a bear which has been possessed by a demon. Before Torak's father dies, he tells Torak to swear an oath to head north and find the Mountain of the World Spirit, and ask the World Spirit to help destroy the bear before it kills all life in the forest. His father tells him that his ‘guide’ will find him and help him on his quest. Torak reluctantly leaves his father as the bear comes back to kill him. Torak heads north and soon encounters an orphaned wolf cub. Torak initially tries to kill the cub to eat it, but he doesn't have the heart. He discovers that he can communicate with the cub. The Cub smells Torak and realises he is from the Wolf Clan, who was fed by a wolf as a baby, and accepts Torak as his pack-brother. He realises the cub is the guide, and Torak names the cub "Wolf". Over time they become good friends. A few days later Torak and Wolf are captured by the Raven Clan, who accuse Torak of stealing one of their roebuck. They are taken to the Raven camp so Torak's fate can be decided by Fin-Kedinn, the Raven Clan leader. Torak's captors are a teenage boy named Hord, a girl named Renn, and a man named Oslak. In the Raven camp, Torak is taken to Fin-Kedinn. Unlike the other Ravens, Fin-Kedinn treats him with kindness and respect, until Fin-Kedinn realises who Torak's father was. To regain his freedom, Torak fights Hord, who is much bigger and stronger, to prove his innocence. He wins by temporarily blinding Hord with steam from some broth which is cooking nearby. This, together with the dog whistle which Torak has made to summon Wolf, makes Fin-Kedinn and Saeunn, the Raven mage, sees Torak as the possible fulfilment of a prophecy about a "Listener". The prophecy states that the Listener, who "talks with silence and fights with air", will offer his heart's blood to the World Spirit and thereby kill the demon-bear. One interpretation of this prophecy is that Torak must be sacri crossing the treacherous glacial flow close to the High Mountains. Nearly at their destination, Renn and Torak are recaptured by the Ravens and taken to the Raven Clan's new temporary camp. Fin-Kedinn releases Torak, believing him to be the one who should go to the Mountain. Fin-Kedinn also reveals that Torak's Fa was killed because he dedicated himself to thwarting a group of rogue mages, the Soul Eaters, who have turned to evil in their determination to rule the Forest. Torak and Wolf climb the mountain, followed by the bear. Torak is unexpectedly attacked by Hord, who believes himself to be the one who must take the Nanuak to the mountain. Torak realises that the prophecy's "heart's blood" means Wolf, and as Wolf carries off the Nanuak, Hord and the bear are engulfed by an ensuing avalanche, and fall down the mountain, killing Hord but destroying the bear. Torak escapes from under his hiding place and looks for Wolf, but he only hears his howl in the distance, along with the howls of other wolves. Torak shouts to Wolf in human language, promising that he will one day return for him, before turning to head back into the forest. 

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Ray Sharkey plays Vincent Vacari, a songwriter and entertainment manager, driven by his desire to discover the next big act. After watching a local band play, Vacari approaches the talented saxophone player, Tomaso DeLorusso (Paul Land), convincing him to trade his instrument for a microphone. After some months under the guidance of Vacari, the newly named "Tommy Dee" becomes a rock 'n' roll sensation. Moving forward from his success with Tommy Dee, Vacari prepares another act in the form of Guido (Peter Gallagher), a local teen who had been working as a busboy. With even more gusto and single-mindedness, Vacari embarks on a destructive journey to control every aspect of his new act's image. Despite his obvious flair for making idols, Vacari's girlfriend, Brenda (Tovah Feldshuh), is concerned that his obsession is destroying everyone around him, including himself. 

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The Royals like their tough Miami neighborhood are multi-ethnic street gang led by Troy (Leon Isaac Kennedy). Troy is aware that a life on the mean streets can only lead to a dead end. Therefore he has been trying through his own determination and musical ambitions, to motivate the band towards a serious goal as professional performers. However within the gang there are those specifically Joey (Nicholas Campbell), who wish to derail Troy's plan, claiming that their performing is distracting them from their business in the streets. Meanwhile, McGruder (Floyd Levine), a corrupt police officer is making life even harder for the Royals, as are the Mechanics, a rival gang trying to take over the Royals' territory. The Mechanics have been selling bad drugs and are also trying to extort protection money from merchants in the Royals neighborhood. A violent face-off between the two gangs results in only the Royals being jailed as it is discovered McGruder is being paid off by the Mechanics. In jail, the Royals use their time to rehearse their songs. A drunken inmate, Mr. Delamo (Michael Ansara), is impressed and offers his assistance, telling them that he owns Twilight Records. Dubious but curious, the Royals visit Delamo upon release from jail only to be rebuffed by his yuppie assistant and daughter, Brooke (Janine Turner). The Royals leave behind a recording of their music and storm out of the office. After listening to the cassette, Brooke decides to bring the band to her father's attention. He agrees with her that they are talented, but unpolished. Unable to locate the Royals, Brooke gets the idea to stage a talent contest for local performers, claiming that there must be other talented bands out there as well. Again her father agrees - but for another reason - the contest will impress local politicians and the stockholders by the nature of its benevolence and the anticipated effect it will have on neighborhood morale. He further stipulates that any contestants that get into trouble with police will be disqualified. Therefore, the mayor's office officially supports the contest as well. The contest galvanizes the community, thus reducing street violence and crime. The Royals concentrate on their music and less on the street, Delamo's profile in the community is boosted, and Troy and Brooke begin to fall in love. The Mechanics, in the meantime, gear up to take over business in the Royals' neighborhood. Troy restrains the Royals from retaliating as he fears trouble will exclude them from the contest. Delamo also threatens Troy that a continued liaison with his daughter will result in serious problems for Troy. To prove his point, Delamo calls on his well-positioned contacts to exert pressure on Troy. Troy, however, will do nothing to risk disqualification. He is convinced the Royals will win the contest. Even when Brooke decides not to see Troy until after the contest, he contains his anger and focuses all his energies into his music. It pays off, as the Royals do indeed win the contest, and the grand prize of a recording contract. Victors, the Royals' jubilation is cut short when the Mechanics savagely kill one of the Royal's girlfriends. Free to react, the Royals enter into battle with the Mechanics, ultimately vanquishing them. Their dignity preserved and their future brighter, the Royals look ahead to a new life in their city. 

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Beautiful young Marsha Wilson is married to Sam, a wealthy, jealous, much-older man. She is having an affair with the sheriff. Marsha picks up a handsome hitch-hiker one day, and brings him to husband's ranch and falls for him. Marsha wants to run off with the hitch-hiker, but he too is married and won't take her along. Sam returns home in a jealous rage, discovers what happened and kills Marsha with a rifle in a drunken rage. The town's sheriff concocts a scheme to blackmail Sam, promising to frame the hitch-hiker for Marsha's murder if Sam provides a hefty payment. The hitch-hiker is caught and jailed, escapes and then is recaptured. By then, a remorseful Sam has had enough. He kills the sheriff, then confesses to committing both murders. 

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The first part of the novel deals with the life of the medicine student Andrés Hurtado. Through his family, teachers, classmates and diverse friends, Baroja draws a merciless painting of the bourgeois and proletarian 19th century inhabitants of Madrid. The second half of the novel tells the stay of Hurtado (now a doctor) in Alcolea, a fictitious town in Castilla-La Mancha (where the author shows the dreadful conditions the peasant had to endure such as caciquism, ignorance, apathy or resignation), his return to Madrid (where he works as a hygiene doctor – emphasizing the description that Baroja makes of prostitution in the 19th century Madrid) and, finally, his unfortunate marriage to Lulú, a young woman he met when he was a student. IV is in direct dialogue (it is totally different from the rest of the novel in which third-person narration is predominant) and contrasts the English pragmatism (supported by Doctor Iturrioz) to the German idealism that Andrés Hurtado defends. Category:1911 novels Category:Spanish autobiographical novels Category:Novels set in Spain Category:Fiction set in the 1890s 

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The plot of Blandia takes place five years after Gladiator. In the Great Continent of Eurasia, after the great swordsman Gurianos downed the devilish warrior Gildus, peace returned to Eurasia and its people completely forgotten the darkness sealed by the evil spirit. Five years later, while living in the interior of Eurasia, Guarianos learns from a passing fencer that Gildus has been resurrected. Gurianos once again hits the road to the to find out the truth.Back side of European arcade flyer of Blandia. 

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Brendan Byers III is a rich playboy who enlists to fight in the war against the Axis powers, but is classified 4-F. He really wants to fight, so he enlists other 4-Fs and some loyal volunteers from his own service staff and forms his own army, financing their training and equipment. Once completed, they travel to the front in Italy, with Byers impersonating a Nazi general named Eric Kesselring. The plan is to pull back the German lines, since the front has remained static for too long, enabling the Allies to push forward again. The mission does not go smoothly and they must overcome several obstacles, including the fiery wife of the local mayor who is the real Kesselring's lover, and the real Kesselring's involvement in an assassination attempt on Hitler. Afterwards, they face their next mission: infiltrating the Imperial Japanese command to influence the outcome of the Battle of Kwajalein. 

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On his way to see Wild Man Moore (Louis Armstrong) at the train station, Ram Bowen (Paul Newman), a jazz musician living in Paris, encounters a newly arrived tourist named Connie Lampson (Diahann Carroll) and invites her to see him perform that night at Club 33. Connie isn't interested, but her friend Lillian (Joanne Woodward) insists they go see him. After Ram finishes performing with Eddie (Sidney Poitier), a fellow American expatriate, the four of them leave the club in the early morning. When Ram suggests that he and Connie go off to have a private breakfast together, she becomes offended, and Ram is angered at being rejected. However, Lillian, undeterred by Ram's attraction to her friend, convinces him to apologize before pursuing him. The two sleep together while Connie and Eddie continue to walk around Paris. Over the following weeks the couples grow closer, but Connie is angry that Eddie has abandoned America for France, insisting that the only way race relations can improve in the U.S. is if people stay and work together in order to change things. Eddie says he is content to stay in Paris, where he experiences less bigotry and is able to carve out a career as a talented musician. Lillian tries to convince Ram to enter into a more committed relationship and move back to the U.S. with her. Ram, aware that she has two children from a previous relationship and lives in a small town, breaks off their relationship, telling her he is dedicated to his music. Meanwhile, Eddie and Connie declare their love for one another. They discuss getting married, but this falls through when Eddie states his refusal to live in the United States for a full year. Their hearts broken by their respective lovers, Connie and Lillian make plans to return home early. Connie, in a desperate last attempt to reach out to Eddie, follows him to a party where she tells him she is leaving Paris for good. Unwilling to lose her, Eddie decides to return to America to join Connie, but will follow in a few weeks as he needs to wrap up his affairs in Paris before leaving. Ram attends a meeting with a record producer, Bernard, who dismisses a composition Ram has been working on, dashing his hopes of a more prominent and respected music career. However, he tells Ram that he has the potential to become a serious composer, if he works hard and truly studies music. Crushed, he tracks down Lillian, and agrees to leave for America with her. But as the women depart, Ram arrives late and tells Lillian that he will not be joining her, as he does not want to give up on his music. As the train carrying Connie and Lillian leaves the station, Ram walks away with Eddie. In the final shot, French workers cover a billboard advertising Wild Man Moore's appearance with a promo for Larousse publishing. 

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The film is narrated by a detective, Joe Morton, who has "been working for the Greater Plantsville Police Department for 30 years". We are introduced to the main characters in the film as they prepare for school one morning. Sarah, the leader of the gang, is a Hitler-idolizing, iron cross wearing, society- and life-hating Jewish teenager. Rawhide, naïve and innocent, admires John Wayne. Fleabrain is a strong and dopey girl. Dorothea is the fourth member. The girls drink alcohol, briefly visit and then cut from their classes at the St. Jerome's School for Girls, terrorize a series of males in the town, and return to the school for an "afternoon tea dance." The band performing at the dance is David Nudelman and the Wild Breed. At the dance, Dorothea is found collapsed on the floor, and the remaining three girls spend the rest of the film hunting down and exacting their revenge on the perpetrators. 

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It's Christmas Eve and nothing is stirring. But Jerry emerges from his hole avoiding a Christmas-themed mousetrap placed by his hole. Jerry nears the Christmas presents, jumping merrily around the tree, licking candy canes and jumping onto a plush toy lion that squeaks. Jerry continues jumping on the soft toy, but bounces too hard and lands on Tom, who he inadvertently wakes up. Tom snarls and just before he can eat Jerry, the quick-thinking mouse grabs a nearby "Do Not Open 'Til Xmas" sticker and slaps it on Tom's mouth. Jerry is chased among the myriad of toys (briefly stopping to fire a trick field gun's cork stopper at Tom) and hides inside a Christmas fairy light, causing him to glow. Not fooled, Tom grabs Jerry and is promptly electrocuted. Jerry hides among some toy soldiers, but Tom spots him and the mouse runs off, saluting the cat like a real soldier would. Tom chases Jerry but is stopped by the barrier of a miniature level crossing. A toy train passes by, with many carriages. Jerry sits on top of the caboose, waving cheekily at Tom and pulling faces. As the train enters a model of a tunnel and Jerry hits his head, knocking him onto the track. He runs through the tunnel, pursued by Tom, who knocks the tunnel over. Jerry hides inside a boxing glove and boxes the puzzled cat in the face before running off behind the Christmas tree. Tom, now arming himself with a boxing glove of his own, follows him and spots him jumping into a jack-in-the-box. Opening up the box, Tom is punched by the boxing glove stuck on Jack's head and is knocked out. Jerry jumps out and holds it up in victory like a boxing referee. Tom chases Jerry once again, but Jerry holds out a piece of mistletoe in front of him and persuades an embarrassed Tom to kiss him. Tom blushes and while his back is turned, Jerry kicks him in the rear. The mouse darts through the letterbox slot into the outdoors. As Tom opens the lid of the letterbox to see where Jerry has gone, Jerry hurls a snowball at his face. Tom angrily barricades the slot to prevent Jerry from getting back into the house. While Jerry trudges up and down in the heavy snow in a vain attempt to keep warm, Tom fluffs up his cushion and prepares to sleep. He is unable to settle himself; heavenly choirs sing carols breaking their silence, pricking Tom's conscience with the message of Christmas peace and goodwill. He first props open the slot to allow Jerry back in and when the mouse does not reappear, ventures anxiously outside to find a hypothermic Jerry, frozen into a solid popsicle. Fearing for Jerry's life, he brings the frozen mouse indoors and warms him up by the fire, saving his life. Slowly, Jerry regains consciousness but is wary of the cat. Tom hands Jerry a candy cane, his Christmas present. A delighted Jerry licks his cane, but then quickly reacts to prevent Tom drinking from his bowl of milk. He dips his cane into the bowl and a loud snap is heard. Jerry uses the cane to fish a mousetrap that he had earlier planted in the bowl. Tom appreciates Jerry's warning and the mouse runs back to his hole. He uses his candy cane to hook the cheese off the mousetrap. Instead of snapping like a usual mousetrap does, however, the spring slowly comes down, ringing the tune of "Jingle Bells" as Jerry smiles in admiration to the "musical mousetrap". 

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The central character in Mad Cowgirl is Therese, a meat inspector who is dying of a brain disorder. The film follows Therese on her surreal descent into violence, in which men in her life become the Ten Tigers of Canton that she must kill in order to become a better woman. Victims of Therese's violent surreal madness include her meatpacking brother Thierry, naughty Pastor Dylan, and a Sri Lankan doctor. 

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The principal characters are Lawrence, Ellie, Alan and Sara. Lawrence, a teaching assistant, and Ellie have been together for about a year. Lawrence loves Ellie, and she outwardly reciprocates while masking her doubts about their relationship. Sara is a radio disc jockey. She meets Alan, a former member of a band called The Bumblebees, at the radio station and invites him to her apartment. 

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Warren Nefron (Jerry Lewis) is a klutz who cannot do anything right. He tells his psychiatrist, Dr. Pletchick (Herb Edelman), his problems. Through a series of flashbacks the viewer sees Nefron's life story. Warren is such a failure that even his many attempts to commit suicide fail. Eventually the psychiatrist uses hypnosis to cure Warren. Although Warren is now cured, the psychiatrist has experienced transference and now has all of Nefron's problems. The story ends with Warren and a young woman attending a film called Smorgasbord. 

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Raju (Chiranjeevi) runs between New Zealand, where he owns a restaurant, and India, where he runs a home for orphans started in his sister's name. Swapna (Rambha) is a student in New Zealand, staying with her uncle. Once she goes looking for Raju to take him to task for thrashing her friend. On learning that Raju was not at fault, she promptly falls in love with him. After that, the scene shifts to India when Raju goes there to look after the "home". There, he keeps a pregnant woman, Sandhya (Rachana), from committing suicide. On learning about her jilted love affair, he decides to help her out. He convinces her that he will act as her husband until the baby is born, whereupon he would leave her, so that she could live with her child peacefully as a deserted wife. With that plan, they go to her village. Her father, Rao Bahaddur Rajendra Prasad (Paresh Rawal), after initially refusing, unwillingly gives his nod to the plan under pressure from family members. The story takes a twist when Swapna comes to India and finds, to her utter shock, Raju as her brother-in-law. Raju's pleadings of innocence fail to convince her. Meanwhile, Raju gets involved in a dispute about the ownership of a lake between their village and a neighboring one. He wins the race that decides its ownership in favor of Sandhya's village. Sandhya's father, happy at the turn of events leading to heightening of the prestige of their village, decides to accept Raju as his son-in-law and decides to get them married. Now Swapna, who comes to know the truth, is in turmoil. Meanwhile, Sandhya makes another attempt at suicide, but Raju thwarts it again. In the process, he comes to know that she met her lover (Achyut), who was held captive by the neighboring village head (Jaya Prakash Reddy) and is being forced to marry his daughter. Raju rescues Sandhya's lover and gets them married, giving a happy ending to the movie. 

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Jagannatham (Akkineni Nageshwara Rao) a multi-millionaire performs his sister Parvati (Shubha) espousal with his friend Narayana (Satyanarayana) a malicious. So, he ploys along with his associate Kotappa (Kota Srinivasa Rao), indicts Jagannatham in a murder case when they even intimidate Parvati to give a fake statement against her brother which leads to his sentence. Thereafter, they also seek to kill pregnant Parvati when she is rescued wise lady Mahalakshmi (Sarada). Later on, she leaves the city after giving birth to a baby boy Ravi. Years roll by, Ravi (Chiranjeevi) a young & energetic guy, always bickers at every workplace and loses his jobs. Parallelly, he squabbles with a lady bully Chitti (Vijayashanti) daughter of Jagannatham who runs a hotel in his area and she too does the same. At present, Jagannatham lives as a mechanic, once Ravi saves him from a dancer and joins as employ in his shed. After a few funny incidents Ravi & Chitti fall in love and Jagannatham also gives approval for their wedding. During the time of their engagement, furious Jagannatham rejects the match knowing Ravi as his nephew. But afterward, realizing the actuality when Jagannatham & Ravi decide to take avenge against Narayana, so, they enter into his house and start confusing him with their relationships. Right now, Narayana has performed a second marriage with Mahalakshmi, after learning the truth she also conjoins with them. After a comic tale, they teach a lesson to Narayana and everybody gets united. Finally, the movie ends on a happy note with the marriage of Ravi & Chitti. 

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At the hands of bandits, a young taxi driver and his wife, a music teacher, are dying. Their son, Jai (Saif Ali Khan), after contacting the scammers, lives clumsily due to deception. But trying to raid a cargo of gold belonging to a large smuggler, Jai is forced to flee from the police and from the bandits. Hiding, he gets into the house of a man, rescuing his father. Taking advantage of the opportunity, Jai impersonates a fiancé of the daughter of the owner of the house who came from the USA... 

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Huckleberry Finn is a half-literate son of Pap Finn, a drunk. One night, his father arrives and Huck is taken away to his father's home. Jealous of Huck's money being kept away, he attacks Huck, but eventually passes out from exhaustion. Huck fakes his own death and runs away. He is accompanied by Jim, a slave who worked for Huck's foster family, and escaped the family out of fear for being sold off. The duo follow the Mississippi River to Cairo, Illinois, so Jim can escape to freedom without being arrested. They come across a wanted poster for Jim, falsely saying that he murdered Huck. Jim and Huck come across a sinking barge one night, and Jim notices Huck's father's corpse on the ship. Huck notices two sailors leaving one to drown in a room as the water comes crashing through. Huck and Jim's canoe sinks, but they steal another one, as the barge completely sinks underwater. The canoe is struck by a steamboat, and Huck is at first captured by a few men, then taken to the home of the Graingerford family. Huck lies about his life to the Graingerfords to avoid suspicion. The Graingerfords are in a feud with another family, the Shepherdsons. Huck even befriends Billy Graingerford, the Graingerford patriarch's son, but is horrified that Jim is found by the family and has become a slave. Billy's older sister Sophie runs away to marry a Shepherdson, thus a short firefight happens, killing all the male Graingerfords in the process, including Billy. Jim and Huck find themselves past Cairo, and two con men: The Duke and The King, join Huck and Jim. The quartet land at Phelps Landing, and The King and The Duke impersonate British members of the Wilks family to con three sisters, Mary Jane, Julia, and Susan, out of their fortune. Meanwhile, Jim has been taken to prison for Huck's murder, and tells Huck about his dead father, thus Huck rebukes Jim. Huck puts the money in the coffin of a recently deceased family member. He exposes The King and The Duke as con men to Mary Jane, and tells her to tell the town at 10:00, when a steamboat to Cairo departs. Dr. Robinson doesn't trust The King and The Duke's scheme, and the real members of the family, whom The King and The Duke were impersonating, show up. The town dig up the buried coffin where the money was put, and thus tar and feather The Duke and The King, and become an angry mob. Huck breaks Jim out of prison, but they are spotted by the mob in the process. While escaping, Huck is shot in the back. Jim sacrifices his chance to escape to freedom and carries Huck to the mob, allowing himself to be hanged. Before the mob can hang Jim, however, Mary Jane, Julia, and Susan arrive and stop the hanging from happening. The mob sets Jim free, and Huck passes out. Huck wakes up in the Wilks homestead and learns that Jim's master Miss Watson, who was also one of Huck's caretakers, died, setting Jim free in her will. The other caretaker plans on civilizing Huck, but Huck, narrating the story, says, "I've been there before." The film ends with Huck running off into the sunset. 

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Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. Watson investigate the case of an attempted murder inspired by the legend of a fearsome, diabolical hound of supernatural origin on Dartmoor in Devon in England's West Country. 

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The story consists of the adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and Professor Challenger in London during the Martian invasion as described in Wells's novel. 

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In the kingdom of Aquilonia, a year of peace for King Conan and his new queen Zenobia is broken when the latter is abducted by a demon. Conan learns from the wizard, Pelias of Koth, that an eastern sorcerer, Yah Chieng of Khitai, is responsible, and begins a quest to recover her without realizing that the fate of the world, as well as Aquilonia, rests on the outcome of the contest. Chronologically, The Return of Conan falls between Howard's novel The Hour of the Dragon (also known as Conan the Conqueror), and the four short stories collected as Conan of Aquilonia. In the both hardcover Gnome Press edition and the paperback Lancer/Ace edition of the Conan stories, The Return of Conan follows Robert E. Howard's novel Conan the Conqueror; it is the final volume chronologically in the Gnome edition (though one additional volume, Tales of Conan, contains stories issued out of sequence), while in the Lancer/Ace edition it is followed by the short stories collected as Conan of Aquilonia. 

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Jeanne Tournier (Moreau) lives with her husband Henri (Alain Cuny) and young daughter, Catherine, in a mansion near Dijon. Her emotionally remote husband is a busy newspaper owner who has little time for his wife, except when he chooses to place demands upon her; often they sleep in separate rooms. Jeanne escapes to Paris regularly when she can spend time with her chic friend Maggy (Judith Magre) and the polo-playing Raoul (José Luis de Vilallonga), Maggy's friend and Jeanne's lover. Jeanne's constant talk of Maggy and Raoul leads to Henri demanding that Jeanne invite them to dinner and to stay as overnight guests. Jeanne's car breaks down on the day of the dinner party, and she accepts a lift from a younger man, Bernard (Jean-Marc Bory), and then asks him to drive her home. By the time they get back, Maggy and Raoul have already arrived at the mansion. It transpires that Bernard, an archaeologist, is the son of a friend of Jeanne's husband, and he too is added to the guest list. Jeanne spurns Raoul's advances, claiming it is too dangerous, but she spends time in a small boat on the river with the attentive Bernard. Clandestinely, they spend the night together. In the morning, to the surprise of everyone, Jeanne leaves with Bernard for a new life. 

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Peter O'Toole is Emil Saber, a retired British soldier and collector of ancient coins and Biblical artifacts. To complete his collection of king Herod's coins, Emil travels to Jerusalem to seek out the seventh and final one. In his search for the coin, Emil begins to lose his mind and eventually believes that he is the reincarnated Herod himself. This does not go well for two teenagers who possess the coin, American tourist Ronnie and Arab pickpocket Salim. As Emil continues on his murderous rampage, the teenagers must avoid him while also protecting the coin. 

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Staying On focuses on Tusker and Lucy Smalley, who are briefly mentioned in the latter two books of the Raj Quartet, The Towers of Silence and A Division of the Spoils, and are the last British couple living in the small hill town of Pankot after Indian independence. Tusker had risen to the rank of colonel in the British Indian Army, but on his retirement had entered the world of commerce as a 'box wallah', and the couple had moved elsewhere in India. However, they had returned to Pankot to take up residence in the Lodge, an annexe to Smith's Hotel. This, formerly the town's principal hotel, was now symbolically overshadowed by the brash new Shiraz Hotel, erected by a consortium of Indian businessmen from the nearby city of Ranpur. We learn about life as an expat in Pankot principally by listening to Lucy's ponderings, for it is she who is the loquacious one, in contrast to Tusker's pathological reticence. He talks in clipped verbless telegraphese, often limiting his utterances to a single "Ha!". He has been purposeless since being obliged to retire, and it is left to Lucy to make sense of the world herself. It is a sad story of frustration that she recounts to herself. She remembers how the young Captain Smalley came back to London on leave in 1930, visited his bank, where she, a vicar's daughter, worked, and tentatively asked her out. She was swept off her feet by the thought of marrying an army officer and dreamt of a glamorous wedding with his fellow officers making an arch with their swords, but life turned out very differently. His job was dull administration, and his early attentiveness in bed rapidly waned. He prohibited her from fulfilling herself by taking part in amateur dramatics. Not only this, but she ranked fairly low in the social pecking order among the white women in Pankot and suffered numerous indignities. A symbol of this retrospection is that their preferred conveyance is the Tonga, a horse-drawn carriage in which they choose to sit facing backwards, "looking back at what we're leaving behind". It falls to Lucy to navigate a path between her husband's obstinacy and obtuseness and the increasingly pressing demands of India's slow transition to modernity. The question of who pays the gardener, for example, requires the skilful management of human relationships. She also tries to maintain some continuity in her life, through correspondence with her old acquaintances (characters in the Raj Quartet), such as Sarah Layton (now Sarah Perron), who have moved back to England. It is through a letter from Sarah Perron that romantic fans of the Raj Quartet learn that she did indeed meet Guy again, and they are living happily ever after with their two children, Lance and Jane. It is clear she blames Tusker for insisting on 'staying on'—at one point they could have retired comfortably to England, but he has been reckless ("nothing goes quicker than hundred rupee notes"), and now she has no idea if they could afford it. She entreats him to tell her how she would stand financially if he were to die. At long last, he writes her a letter, setting out their finances and also remarking that she had been "a good woman" to him. But he also tells her not to ask him about it, as he is incapable of discussing it face to face: "If you do I'll only say something that will hurt you". Nevertheless, she treasures this, the only love letter she has ever received. Meanwhile, we see the new India that is replacing the British Raj, symbolised by Mrs Lila Bhoolabhoy, the temperamental and overweight owner of Smith's Hotel, and her much put upon husband and hotel manager, who is Tusker's drinking companion. The richly humorous context includes the engagement of servants, the railway service, poached eggs, hairdressing and the church organ. There is an intimate relationship between the Smalleys' servant Ibrahim and Mrs Bhoolabhoy's maid Minnie. Mrs Bhoolabhoy's greed induces her to trade her ownership of the now shabby Smith's hotel for a share in the competing consortium. She instructs Mr Bhoolabhoy to issue the Smalleys with a notice to quit the Lodge. On receipt of this letter, Tusker flies into an impotent rage and drops dead of a heart attack. Lucy is downcast and puts on a brave face as she prepares for the funeral and a solitary life. But, at last, she would potentially be free to return to England, perhaps able to scrape by on her £1,500 a year. She is a survivor, because she can adapt, as is shown by the fact that, on the day of Tusker's death, she was about to break a previously upheld taboo and welcome her hairdresser, Susy, who is of mixed race, to dinner. In her imagination, she asks Tusker one last thing – to take her with him, for if she had been a good woman to him, as he wrote, why has he now gone home without her? 

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Dice tells the story of charismatic psychology teacher, Glenn Taylor (Aidan Gillen), who manipulates people by teaching them how to live by the throw of a dice. When the small community is shattered by the death of student Sally Quine, Detective Patrick Styvesant (Martin Cummins) finds himself drawn deeper into a bizarre world where decisions are ruled by the dice. As Taylor's influence over the community deepens, Patrick also has his own demons to contend with as he battles alcoholism and his repressed homosexuality, all of which make him a perfect target for Taylor. 

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Eleven days before the parliamentary election, the Centre Party's main candidate, who is about to become the next Danish Prime Minister, and his wife have a car accident. His situation is critical and nobody knows if he will survive. Even his wife, who is also hospitalised, is not informed. The next day, Torp is assigned to cover the election. Quickly, he is drawn into the internal power struggle in the Centre Party where two very different politicians, Erik Dreyer and Lone Kjeldsen, show interest in gaining power and potentially becoming the next Prime Minister. Torp, the son of a previous justice minister, writes his first front-page story after a tip-off from the Centre Party press coordinator, Peter Schou. The story turns out to be "planted spin" in order to damage Lone Kjeldsen (Nastja Arcel) to allow the advantage to Dreyer who benefits from her lost credibility. Ulrik is determined to get to the truth behind the lies that drive Kjeldsen's vulnerable husband to suicide. Tracing the misinformation to its source, he reveals what he knows to his editor and the paper's owner who turns out to be an old college friend of Dreyer. Both close ranks and Torp is fired. Torp tries to confront Dreyer over what he knows to be a cover-up of the death of the leader Aksel Brunn who is reported as being still on life support though sources tell him the man was "brain dead from day one". Even Brunn's 22-year- old son is paid off to back Dreyer's stalling but Dreyer dismisses Torp as an unemployed malcontent. Finally, by joining forces with a left-wing stringer, Henrik Moll (Nicolas Bro), Torp succeeds in exposing the plot and Dreyer on national television. However, the effects last only a short time before Dreyer's contacts and influence push him on a wave to the top. 

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Early every morning, Ahmad (Ahmad Razvi), a Pakistani immigrant, struggles to drag his heavy cart along the streets of New York to a corner in Midtown Manhattan, where he sells coffee and bagels. He encounters a wealthy Pakistani businessman who offers him some work and financial assistance, promising also to introduce him to the music scene. He also spends time with a young Spanish woman who works in a nearby newspaper and magazine kiosk. He is haunted by the death of his wife and is unable to spend time with his son. Just as it appears that he is making some progress in improving his life, an event occurs that pushes him back down again. 

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The series starts as Marigold Alcock inherits her husband's business The Alcock Group of Companies upon his death. The companies, whose headquarters are above a strip club in Soho, include Sotheby's Racing Service Ltd and Hugh Blanding's Detective Agency. The elderly Ernest is her office assistant, while her partner is Richard Gander. He was given partnership in the company after an Alcock Economy Coach Tour went wrong. 

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As he prepares to do his homework, Ahmed realizes that he accidentally brought home a notebook belonging to one of his classmates. Knowing that his friend may be expelled if he does not have the notebook in order to complete his homework, Ahmed goes looking for his classmate. When he is unable to find his friend's home, Ahmed ends up doing the homework for his friend; the homework is deemed excellent by the teacher. 

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Moon (Juliette Marquis) is a down-to-earth young woman who happens to be one of the most popular adult film stars. She finds no fault in using her sexuality as a means of profit. While she is in the process of renewing her contract, her personal life remains a delicate issue as her father (James Woods) suffers from Parkinson's disease and a blind date (Kip Pardue) remains hesitant to get close to Moon after learning of her profession. Moon's friend Jessie hires her to fidelity test her boyfriend, Moon agrees and decides to offer the same to other women. One of the women hires her to test her husband and Moon goes in to pretend to buy a car from the husband, a man named Terry (Michael Rapaport), and offers sex for a deal on the car. When he agrees to it, they start fooling around and she excuses herself to the bathroom, and sneaks out the bathroom window. Terry catches her before she drives off. When asking why she left she inadvertently reveals she was hired to test him by his wife. Terry gets angry, begging her not to tell his wife, saying he'll pay more. When she does not agree to remain quiet he repeatedly violently hits her car with a pipe, and threatening her. The film cuts to scenes of a younger Moon starting out in the business. Moon starts to re-evaluate her life with the idea of starting over afresh and tells Aronson, who was interviewing two new potential porn stars, that she's an adult now and has to make better choices with herself and life. Aronson wishes her well. After Moon leaves Aronson's place she is approached by Terry who is obviously angry that Moon told his wife about his infidelity. He attacks and threatens her with a knife saying she owes him, that she ruined his life and she needs to make it up to him. Moon tells him she quit the business. He throws her to the ground and forces himself on her. When she fights him, Terry tells her he followed her and he knows all about her. He threatens her father's safety, telling her to stop fighting him. He tries to rape her but Moon headbutts him breaking his nose and throwing him off of her. She runs out and as the film ends she goes over to see Kip. 

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Alexander Green is a 16-year-old boy, who lives in Golders Green in London and who wants to leave his middle-class Jewish home. He is based on the writer's fourteen-year-old son Adam. Alexander's parents, Joe and Fay Green, try to understand him and he has a sister Renata. 

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The novel concerns the rivalry of two men: Valentine Bulmer, the Earl of Etherington, and his half-brother Francis Tyrrel. Both wish to marry Miss Clara Mowbray, who is the sister of John, the laird of Saint Ronan’s. Saint Ronan’s Well is a spa at Innerleithen, a town near Peebles in southern Scotland. 

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In a prologue to the novel, the narrator recalls legends of the time, 300 years ago, when the minister of the Kirk of Woodilee in the Scottish lowlands was spirited away by the fairies or – as some said – by the devil. The story opens in 1644 with the coming of David Sempill, newly-ordained minister of the Church of Scotland, to Woodilee, a parish passionate in its support of the Covenant. Sempill is less committed to strict doctrinal practices than many of the Covenanters, and he finds himself attracted to the creed of Mark Kerr, a fugitive and follower of Lord Montrose, supporter of the King and enemy of the Kirk. Soon afterwards, when Kerr is injured, the minister secretes him within the manse. One night in the feared Black Wood of Melanudrigill the minister stumbles across a diabolic rite in which figures wearing animal headpieces dance around a pagan altar. He later attempts to identify the ringleader and although unsuccessful manages to splash his clothes with pungent aniseed oil. The next day the wife of a prominent elder of the Kirk, Ephraim Caird, is discovered burning clothes on a fire which smells strongly of aniseed. The plague comes to Woodilee. Sempill labours to prevent its spread helped by a newcomer named Mark Riddel who, unknown to the locals, is in fact the fugitive Mark Kerr. Nursing care is surreptitiously provided by a shadowy figure whom the locals take to be a fairy but who is in fact Katrine Yester, niece of the local laird, to whom Sempill is secretly engaged. Katrine contracts the plague and dies. A local woman is accused by a pricker of being a witch and in spite of the best efforts of Sempill and Riddel is tortured and killed. Sempill presents his evidence of Ephraim Caird's heresy to the presbytery, the Kirk's religious court, which rejects it as circumstantial and unreliable. In retaliation, Caird brings counter-charges against the minister for harbouring a fugitive, for associating with Mark Riddel (now publicly identified as Mark Kerr), and for keeping the company of an unknown woman. Sempill is found guilty and is excommunicated and ejected from his ministry. On his way back from the hearing, Sempill meets Ephraim Caird near the Black Wood. He forces Caird to enter, kneel before the pagan altar, and to make his choice between Christ and the devil. The effort is too much for Caird who runs off in demented terror and is killed in a fall. The minister is never after that day seen again, giving rise to the legends mentioned in the novel's prologue. In an epilogue, it is revealed that Sempill and Kerr had ridden to Leith and had boarded the first available ship out of Scotland. 

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Ramakrishna (Chiranjeevi) is a mechanic whose life changes when he meets Priya (Anjala Zaveri) at a train station. She sees him and feels some inexplicable connection, and then runs away with him to flee her father Mahendra's (Prakash Raj) goons. They end up living in the forest with their son, but Mahendra, who is an underworld don, kidnaps her so that he can marry her off to another don's son. Ramakrishna confronts Mahendra, and in the ensuing struggle, Priya takes the bullet shot at Ramakrishna and dies. Their son loses his voice because of the shock, and Ramakrishna is jailed. Mahendra takes the boy away to Kolkata, where the story originally started. Ramakrishna, with the help of Padmavathi (Soundarya), reunites with his son. 

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The action occurs twelve years later on from the last novel, when Hannay, now in his fifties, is called by an old oath to protect the son of a man he once knew, who is also heir to the secret of a great treasure. He obtains help from Sandy Arbuthnot, now Lord Clanroyden, and Lombard. The action takes place in England, in Scotland and on the Island of Sheep, which is in what Buchan calls the Norlands: clearly the Faroe Islands. There are several stereotypical villains, in particular D'Ingraville from The Courts of the Morning, and the book also focuses on Hannay's son, Peter John, now a bright but solemn teenager. In Book I Richard Hannay is on his way down to the Solent to lay up his yacht. He has heard a speech in Parliament from Charles Lamancha, a formidable orator. Lamancha has mentioned the name of one of Hannay's old friends, Lombard, whom Hannay had long forgotten about. By pure coincidence Hannay's train carriage mate turns out to be Lombard himself. Following promises to meet later, Lombard disembarks. Afterwards Hannay's son, Peter John, receives a vile-tempered she-hawk from Archie Roylance, which he christens Morag. Hannay takes Peter John shooting on the Hanham Flats in East Anglia. There they meet a strange man who is behaving as if he is on the run from something or someone. He says that his name is Smith, but Hannay thinks that he is Northern European. Hannay then meets Clanroyden, who reveals a Chinese jade tablet and tells Hannay about old Haraldsen. Hannay responds with his own tale about Haraldsen, also involving Lombard and Peter Pienaar in Rhodesia, which introduced the villains Erick Albinus, a Danish American, and a City of London bigshot called Aylmer Troth; the story ended with the gang's arrest and Troth's death. Clanroyden brings old Haraldsen's son to Hannay. Hannay recognises him as Smith from the Hanham shooting holiday. Haraldsen is being hounded by villains including Albinus, Aylmer Troth's son, Lancelot, and a third man, named Barralty. Hannay meets Lombard again, as well as Macgillivray, who does not know much about this gang. Clanroyden suggests Hannay and Haraldsen move up to Laverlaw. In Book II Hannay, Haraldsen and Peter John are at Sandy's ancestral manor, Laverlaw. There they witness sheepshearing and a wedding. Lombard arrives, having only just saved Haraldsen's daughter Anna from the villains with a mad dash by car north from London. Clanroyden joins them later. In Book III Hannay and his friends sail to the Island of Sheep, and meet Haraldsen and Anna there. One day Peter John and Anna go canoeing, and come upon a Danish trawler, the "Tjaldar". They meet the real villain, Jacques D'Ingraville, on board and are captured, but one of the crewmen, Martel, helps them to escape. They arrive back at the island and summon the whaling crew of the "Grind" for help. Meanwhile, Hannay, Lombard, Geordie Hamilton and Haraldsen receive a message from Morag that they are about to be attacked. They barricade the house. D'Ingraville, Martel and a Spaniard, Carreras, arrive to offer terms. Hannay lets Martel into the house to negotiate and Martel reveals himself to be Sandy Clanroyden. Clanroyden assures Hannay that the children are all right and then rejoins D'Ingraville, after which his cover is blown by Haraldsen. Clanroyden manages to escape and joins Hannay on the roof. Haraldsen goes berserk and throws D'Ingraville to his death off a cliff. Anna and Peter John then arrive with the crew of the "Grind". The criminal gang is subdued. Lancelot Troth, Albinus and Barralty make peace with Haraldsen, and are invited to dinner with him. Clanroyden gives his jade tablet to Troth. 

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Ashok (Venkatesh) and Julie (Kalyani) are childhood friends. Ashok is like a family member of Julie's family. They are very close and believe that friendship is above love, yet they do not have any romantic feelings towards each other. After they grow up, Julie's father Peter (Chandra Mohan) dies, Ashok brings Julie to his house, and she stays along with his family. Nandini (Aarti Agarwal) is from a rich family, and Ashok falls in love with her and they get married. The rest of film revolves around how Ashok and Nandini get Julie married. 

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The film opens with Brad (Rory Cochrane), an out-of-work musician, making coffee for his wife, Lexi (Mary McCormack), who is still in bed. She leaves for work and Brad is left home alone. Over the radio, he hears that several suspected dirty bombs have been detonated across Los Angeles. He exits his house and sees large amounts of smoke rising from the city. Brad gets into his car and drives to the city to find Lexi. Brad tries to contact her through her cell phone, but only receives a busy signal. He soon finds that all roads now have police blockades. An ash-covered car is stopped by the police. One officer notices Brad watching from inside his car and goes over to him to tell him to go back home. The police officers aim their weapons at the driver as he gets out and demand that he get back into his car. He ignores their warning and is shot down by the police. Brad decides to leave and go back home when he encounters a small boy named Timmy (Scotty Noyd, Jr.), who is watching the rising smoke from the city. Brad tells him to run home, and continues to his house. Once home, Brad sees Alvaro (Tony Perez), in the house. Alvaro asks Brad if he can stay with him as there is no one at the neighbor's house where he was working. Over the radio, they hear that survivors of the blasts are being quarantined due to the bombs' deadly toxins, and that the authorities advise people to seal up their homes before the toxins reach them. Brad and Alvaro then proceed to seal up the house with duct tape and plastic. As it becomes increasingly obvious that Lexi might not come home, he takes some of Lexi's clothes and leaves them outside the back door with some food and water. Radio newscasts claim that the bombs contained several toxins and an unknown viral strain. Lexi has been involved in a car crash but is still alive. She walks home, still covered in the dust. Brad, who sees her, realizes she could infect both himself and Alvaro so he does not let her in. Lexi becomes desperate after being locked out. She loses her temper and throws her cell phone at one of the door panes, breaking it. Brad and Alvaro both rush to cover up the breakage and seal it off. Together, they manage to calm Lexi down. Brad then seals off the main bedroom from the rest of the house so that Lexi can get into it. Lexi receives a call from her mother, who realizes that she was near the explosion and is probably infected. Her pleas for Lexi to go to a hospital fall on deaf ears as Lexi tells her that the rest of the country is seeing news that doesn't all reflect the truth of the situation. A car alarm goes off nearby, and Timmy is seen next to it. Lexi calls him over and Brad seals off another part of the house in order for Lexi and Timmy to clean off the ash in the bathroom. Alvaro decides to leave the house, saying he needs to be with his wife. Brad tries to convince him to stay, but Alvaro leaves anyway and is seen slowly walking away through a downpour of toxic ash. Lexi hears a noise from the back and alerts Brad. A masked man appears, who introduces himself as Rick (Jon Huertas). He tells Lexi that there is a ship on the coast that has medical supplies and is helping people. Lexi, Rick, and Timmy leave for help and Brad hears newscasts on the radio that elaborate on the unknown viral strain, saying it is hybrid and attacks the respiratory system. That same night Brad is visited by a Corporal Marshall (Max Kasch) and his men. He asks Brad several questions, such as how well his house has been sealed, who else is currently or recently been there, and if there has been any contact between him and anyone on the outside. Brad mentions the phone that Lexi threw the door window and the Corporal demands a sample of the dust off the phone. He tells Brad that he will soon be back with the results and that his wife under no circumstances should be let into the house. As he leaves, he is heard reciting the home's address, and then saying, "red tag." Lexi returns home the next day without Timmy or Rick and sees the red tag placed outside the house. Lexi tells Brad that Timmy was treated with other children and that she saw police assault and arrest five people. Lexi calls her brother, Jason, (Will McCormack) so that she can have someone to talk to due to her mother being frantic with worry. The next couple of hours are spent with Brad and Lexi on their respective sides of the door, who talk about what they will do assuming they survive. Brad imagines that after this they will both probably end up on one of those morning talk shows where everyone goes to reveal their woes. Suddenly, soldiers appear and grab Lexi, and prevent Brad from coming outside. One soldier manages to calm Brad down and explains to him that because he did such a good job sealing up the house, there is no new air to circulate through, but also explains that, unfortunately, containing the virus in an area that has no fresh air flow causes the virus to multiply itself in the air to extreme lethal levels, making the air inside extremely dangerous, all the while the air outside that everyone was scared of was not lethal. Brad doesn't understand what the soldier is saying and insists that they bring his wife back. A large heavy piece of plywood is put over the back door, completely covering it. A hole is drilled through the wood and a pipe appears through which a gas starts to be pumped in. More boards seal the windows and doors but Brad manages to break down the plywood covering his front door, only to discover that a fumigation tent has been erected over the whole house. He tries to tear through the tent and is knocked unconscious by a soldier, as Lexi screams Brad's name. The camera cuts to Brad as he takes his last few breaths. Lexi is later seen sitting in an ambulance, being attended to by a nurse. The film ends with Lexi in too much shock to say anything, her cell phone ringing. 

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On the way to an agricultural fair north of Manhattan, Wolfe's car runs into a tree, stranding Wolfe and Archie at the home of the owner of a chain of fast-food cafés. A neighbor is later found gored to death; the authorities rule the death an accident but Wolfe deduces that it was murder. Lily Rowan, Archie's longtime girlfriend, makes her first appearance. This is one of several Wolfe plots that break one of Wolfe's cardinal rules, to never conduct business away from the Manhattan brownstone. It involves minor characters who appear in several other Wolfe novels, under different names and in different locales: the self-important police officer who tries to intimidate Archie, and the occasionally bumbling but politically attuned district attorney. The book's title is from The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. 

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Valeria and Gianna Donatti lived happily in Naples with his father, until he suddenly gets ill and dies, then the sisters must travel to Mexico City to meet with Vittorio Maglione, the fiance to Valeria. Valeria and Vittorio have never been seen since their marriage was arranged by her parents; so the two have no idea have no idea of how they appear. Believing Valeria will never arrive, Vittorio (the impatient fool he is) stops waiting. Valeria and Gianna are lost in the city, when they get robbed and are practically on the street, at nightfall the concierge of a luxury apartment complex gives them stay in her room, finally gives Valeria Vittorio disappointment but this is an old man and Valeria decides not to marry him and to survive looking for job cleaning departments and friend Hilda ago Gianna falls ill and the doctor says Valeria need expensive treatment, while Hilda commits suicide and leaves power Valeria a letter. Valeria reads the letter and decides to use it against Juan Francisco de Castro to blackmail him and make him marry her to pay for treatment of his sister, as Juan Francisco was the lover Hilda, same portraying him as responsible for his suicide. Before reaching the life of Juan Francisco, Valeria finds work in a couple's house very good people, and Teresa Vicente, who become friends and recommend Valeria Castro home. After working at Juan Francisco, Valeria holds its plan and likewise discovers the opposition and enmity of Mercedes grandmother, uncle Hector and the wife of this, apart from Elena and Joseph Butler sinister mansion knows all the secrets of the old Mercedes and becomes the same helper in the task of removing Valeria their lives, Dulce cook becomes the mainstay of Valeria addition to Fanny, a friend of the family who discovers Valeria is the result of a love he had when he was admitted to a school in Naples. While Juan Francisco lives by Valeria resentful toward blackmail, gradually discovers that Valeria is the love of his life. The same applies to Valeria, who stops seeing Juan Francisco as a stranger and goes really falling for him. 

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When a 12-year-old chimney sweep named Tom is wrongfully blamed for being a thief, he makes a run for it with his dog Toby, and they end up jumping into a violent river. There they encounter a civilisation of anthropomorphic underwater creatures. Before he can return to the surface and clear his name, however, Tom must help rescue his new friends, the Water Babies, from enslavement by sharks. 

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Lois gets a job as the new organist at the local church, which causes her to force her family to start attending mass on Sundays. After Stewie mistakes Communion wine for punch, he drinks too much and throws it up, leading the citizens of Quahog to believe Stewie is possessed by Satan. When the priest wants to exorcise him, aided by everyone in town, the Griffin family escapes to Lois' sister Carol's house in Texas. Upon arriving at the home, Peter fits in well with the cowboys, but Brian is disgusted by the bigotry of the local residents. Stewie, disguised as a girl to protect his identity, begins using the name "Stephanie Griffin" and, after being convinced by Lois, enters a "Little Miss Texan" beauty pageant. Meanwhile, as part of an initiation into an after-school club, Meg and Chris sneak into George W. Bush's Crawford ranch to steal a pair of his underwear. Lois soon hears that the search for Stewie has ended, but, since she was hoping to instill "new moral values" in her family she decides not to mention that they can go home. Later, before attending the beauty pageant that Stewie had entered, Brian finds out about the town calling off the search, from his girlfriend Jillian back in Quahog, and at the pageant tells Lois, who says she knows, which horrifies Brian. Meanwhile, after branding a cow, things turn worse when Peter reveals that he is mentally retarded. The men with him, who explain that Texas "executes the retarded", tie him to an electric chair, in an attempt to put him to death, but he is soon rescued by his trusty horse, revealed to be voiced by Gilbert Gottfried. Back at the pageant, Stewie manages to win, but when his wig falls off during the crowning ceremony, the audience labels him as a "queer-o-sexual" and tries to rush the stage. The family is able to escape on the back of Gottfried, and return home to Quahog. The episode ends with Lois telling Peter that moral and family values don't come from where people live or who their friends are, but from people themselves and that they should embrace their lives, while Peter says that people should be careful what they watch, and not become religious with it, while breaking the fourth wall. 

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Twelve-year-old Jay Keaton's life is in grave danger, he stumbles across a shocking discovery at the company his father used to work at. He and his friend Mel are on the run from the corrupt cloning company EmbroGen! The two children are on a dangerous mission to stop EmbroGen and reveal them for what they really are. 

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The Griffin family decides to take a vacation at Quagmire's cabin at Lake Quahog. When they go swimming in the lake, they discover that an oil refinery is dumping toxic waste into it; as they flee the lake their hair falls out, forcing them to wear powdered wigs until it grows back. Lois complains to Mayor Adam West, who admits that he sanctioned the dumping in exchange for free hair oil. Outraged at West’s corruption, Lois decides to run against him in the upcoming mayoral election. Peter and his friends become strong supporters of Lois' campaign, realizing that they'd be able to get away with almost everything should she become mayor. But Lois' campaign soon falters as Mayor West proves more politically savvy. While Lois bores voters with detailed plans to improve the city, Mayor West uses glittering generalities and statements completely unrelated to the questions posed to him. Following Brian's advice to give short, simple answers, Lois resorts to similar tactics, dropping controversial terms such as "Jesus" and "9/11" in meaningless ways. She eventually gains the populace's support and wins the election. After taking office, Lois attempts to propose a tax raise, though when this fails, begins to use fear tactics to raise funds to clean up the lake. Her efforts are successful and life returns to the clean lake. She even has leftover cash afterwards, so she embezzles $600 to purchase a purse, much to Brian's disappointment. Peter has also succumbed to the perks of being the mayor's husband: he has rerouted the town's electrical system and caused rolling blackouts to bring late comedian Jim Varney back from the dead (he does nothing but talk, playing his character Ernest, and repeatedly refer to "Vern".) He then remembers he actually wanted John Belushi and takes Varney outside to shoot him, only for Varney to end up taking the gun from him and Peter running away from him warning Brian. Later, Lois is tempted to buy a $4,300 fur coat, and Bob Grossbeard, president of the local oil company, offers to buy it for her if she will allow him to dump his oil runoff in the lake. Lois reluctantly accepts his offer, but as the opening of the new runoff pipe begins, Lois realizes the error of her ways and closes the valve to the pipe and resigns her position as mayor, stating that she was consumed by money and power, which led her to become the very same things she set out to destroy. Lois then allows West to have his job as mayor back. West declares himself mayor again, but a random bystander points out that he has no jurisdiction to do so, and that the city has to have a whole new election to decide who gets to be the mayor of Quahog. This prompts West to pull out a gun and shoot him, as well as two others whom he believes objected. Despite West's blatant act of assault with a deadly weapon and the fact that he murdered three people in front of witnesses, no one in Quahog defends themselves against him, attempts to arrest him, or question his moral judgment to be mayor. 

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The story starts when Scrooge McDuck tries to know where was his nephew going. Donald says he's going to buy an ice cream soda, much for the dismay of Scrooge, who tries to convince Donald to invest the money rather than spending it. Scrooge shows Donald his Number One Dime and the nephew notices a string attaching it to one of Scrooge's pockets. Scrooge says he also saves string and takes Donald to the Money Bin to show him the benefits of saving money. Donald still prefers a soda, so Scrooge gives up and goes to the park to find a newspaper (he's too stingy to buy one). A two-day-old issue points a South African mine owner, named Flintheart Glomgold, as the new richest duck in the world and describes his net worth as over one multiplujillion and nine obsquatumatillion. Scrooge can't accept the idea of someone being richer than him, so he checks his fortune and learns his net worth also surpasses one multiplujillion and nine obsquatumatillion. It's: "one multiplujillion, nine obsquatumatillion, six hundred and twenty-three dollars and sixty-two cents". Upon learning he's still not a second-class zillionaire, he goes to South Africa to meet Glomgold and check on his title as the world's richest duck. He takes Donald and his nephews along with him stating that, if he loses, he'll need them to carry him. With a list of all of his possessions and his string ball, Scrooge and co. take one of his ships to Africa. In the ship, Scrooge finds a piece of string and tries to put it on his ball, but it already belongs to another ball, whose owner gets very angry. At Glomgold's headquarters, our heroes learn he has his own Money Bin, almost like Scrooge's (the biggest difference being that Scrooge's has a dollar sign and Flintheart's has a pound sign). At Glomgold's office, he "welcomes" them with a cannon, which Scrooge regards as a copy of his hospitality. Scrooge identifies himself and says he'd sent a telegram, but, since Scrooge doesn't pay for the messages he sends and Flintheart doesn't pay for the ones he receives, Flintheart didn't know he was coming. Flintheart lets Scrooge in anyway, claiming to know him from newspapers he found at the park. Scrooge learns Flintheart Glomgold is the duck he previously met at the ship. They start comparing wealth but, since they can't do it without losing temper, Donald and his nephews have to tie them up. After a long night, Scrooge and Flintheart remain tied (in both ways) except for their string balls. They come to an agreement that the one who keeps more string is the richest one. They go unrolling their balls through "the heart of Africa". Scrooge tells his family he agreed to this wild rally because they are five to protect his string ball, but Flintheart is alone. On the other hand, Flintheart is armed with a better knowledge of the territory. When Flintheart becomes exhausted, Scrooge offers him a cup of coffee, and Flintheart retributes by suggesting Scrooge to put his ball on a clay pile to keep it safe. Scrooge's coffee had a sleeping potion while the clay pile is an ant-hill. The next morning, Flintheart wakes with the upper hand (i.e. the bigger ball, but the race goes on). To make things worse for Scrooge, Flintheart pours syrup on Scrooge's ball, attracting more ants. Scrooge tries to take the ball to a river, Flintheart points out one, but Scrooge doesn't believe him. It turns out that Flintheart knew Scrooge wouldn't trust him anymore. Scrooge's ball was now small enough to be kept within his top hat, which came in handy next night to protect it from locusts, while Flintheart wasn't so lucky. The next morning, some natives start a grass fire to keep the locusts away, causing Flintheart to run away and the others to follow him. While the fire cannot reach them, it scares all the animals into stampeding. The ducks climb a tree for protection, and Scrooge shakes Flintheart's branch trying to drop his ball (with the title of richest duck at stake, he's not so above dishonesty), although he stops when scolded by Dewey. A rhinoceros hits the tree, causing Glomgold's ball to fall and be destroyed by a bird. Scrooge was so distracted laughing he failed to notice another bird grabbing his ball. In the end, the remaining balls were very small and they seem to end tied, but Scrooge shows the string attached to the Number One Dime, making him the champ. Scrooge now begins talking to Donald about the joy of saving money, while Donald still prefers a soda as his nephews were carrying a defeated and depressed Flintheart Glomgold back to home. 

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María Olivares (Helena Rojo) is a beautiful but poor young provincial woman. Never having known her father and orphaned at a young age, she is raised by her maternal grandfather, Don Maximiliano (José Luis Jiménez). Her grandfather is a peasant farmer living in a hut on the grounds of his employers'land, a wealthy family, owners of Hacienda Narváez. Javier Narvaez (Enrique Lizalde) is the handsome son and heir to half the Narvaez family fortune, who is visiting his brother Rafael (Javier Marc) and sister- in-law Carmen (Beatriz Sheridan). Javier is an independent young man and also a successful airline pilot. Rafael and Carmen meanwhile live on the Hacienda and operate the family business, viewing Javier as a sort of prodigal son, undeserving of his share of the family wealth. María meets and falls in love with Javier during his visit to the Hacienda. María is captivated by Javier, who despite his wealth -and unlike his family- has a good soul and is unconcerned by social standings. Javier in turn, falls in love with María, realizing that her nature is even more attractive than her physical beauty. However, Carmen and Rafael are against the relationship because Maria is poor. Carmen constantly humiliates Maria, at one point throwing a bracelet into the mud and forcing Maria to retrieve it with her teeth. Later, Carmen sets María's house on fire, hoping to force her to move away. Tragically, María's grandfather dies when her home burns down. María realizes it was an intentional act and bitterly vows to take a revenge against all the Narvaez. Meanwhile, Javier is unaware of Carmen's actions and believes María has left him. Now homeless and pregnant, María escapes to Mexico City. She arrives at the home of Alexander Balsameda (Roberto Cañedo), a sick elderly man, where she takes a job as his caretaker. Balsameda offers her protection not knowing that María is his long-lost daughter, yet he feels strangely drawn to her with fatherly concern. Once upon a time, Alexsander had also been forced to give up true love by his wealthy hotelier family more concerned with social standings. Now, when that same fate is being repeated with María and after many years of searching for her, destiny has intervened to bring father and daughter together. After a confused incident, the truth of María's heritage is discovered. Having lost her mother and grandfather, María realizes she still has family in this world. Unfortunately, Alexander soon dies from a heart attack, leaving María the Hotel of Santo Angelo. Now an heiress, María takes on her rightful birth name, Alejandra Balsameda. She also proves to be a capable businesswoman managing her father's hotel and fortune. Alejandra manages the hotel and has to confront new obstacles when she discovers that her father's business associate, Dupré (Tony Carbajal) and his lover Andrea (Nelly Meden) are stealing from her. With a new name, nice clothes and wealth, few people recognize her from her past life. Yet her life is still full of hatred and the desire for revenge. Now that she has inherited Alexsander's wealth, María sees it as destiny's way to help her achieve her revenge on the Narvaez family. Fate seems to set circumstances in María's (now Alejandra) favor to accomplish her revenge. To Alejandra's surprise, the airline has placed employees as permanent residents in her hotel: Javier Narváez, Eduardo (Raymundo Capetillo) and flight attendant Sonia (Marcela Rubiales). Later, at a hotel party, Alejandra encounters Javier. He's struck by the resemblance with María Olivares, but thinks he's mistaken because Alejandra is a refined and elegant woman. At the party, the Governor of San Angelo (Germán Robles) falls in love with Alejandra, while his daughter Lucy (Karina Duprez) becomes engaged to Javier. Alejandra's beauty also attracts new arrival to San Angelo, the Sultan de Oman (Rogelio Guerra) is also madly in love with Alejandra. However, despite her wealth, refinement and the interest of other men, Alejandra's desire for revenge continues to blind her to opportunities for happiness. Meanwhile, Rafael and his wife Carmen leave Hacienda Narváez to live in San Angelo. Now that Alejandra has gotten restitution from Dupré and she is 100% owner of the hotel, Andrea becomes her employee, ally and confidant. Alejandra begins to plan her revenge with Andrea's help. During a visit to the hotel, Rafael meets Andrea and falls in love with her. Andrea gets Rafael drunk and takes to the hotel's casino every night. Eventually, Rafael becomes addicted to gambling and alcohol, loses all his money and Andrea - following Alejandra's orders - makes him sign an IOU with the Hacienda Narvaez as collateral, which he also loses. With Rafael's great debt to the hotel, Alejandra demands payment, otherwise she will take possession of Hacienda Narvaez. When Carmen finds out her husband's predicament, she begs for mercy from Alejandra. Alejandra tells her to show up at the hotel the following day, where she will give her back the IOU. Before Carmen arrives, Alejandra orders a mud pit be built at the hotel and invites the governador, his daughter and Javier as witnesses. When Carmen arrives, Alejandra tells her in front of everyone that she will give her the IOU and forgive the debt if Carmen picks up the document from the mudpit with her teeth. Desperate and crying, Carmen throws herself toward the mudpit. However, Alejandra reaches for the IOU and retrieves it before Carmen humiliates herself, explaining that she cannot be as cruel as Carmen had been with her years before. Now that her identity has been revealed, everyone realizes that Maria and Alejandra are one and the same. Then Sultan de Oman was attempt by some of people of his agents and after that he was pull down from his kingdom. Javier wants to reestablish his relationship with Alejandra, but she says no. Javier decides to marry Sofía (Luz Adriana), who owns the lands next to his property at Hacienda Narvaez. Alejandra, utilizing a middleman buyer(Estela Chacón), makes an offer to Rafael Narváez for the Hacienda, which he accepts to avoid bankruptcy caused by his addictions. Carmen dies run over by a car, Rafael becomes an alcoholic and Alejandra returns as owner of Hacienda Narváez. Finally, Javier se divorces Sofía, begs Alejandra's forgiveness and they marry. 

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Married couple Lynn and Doug Kaines (De Mornay and Silver), owners of an exotic furniture design company, visit Mexico, while Lynn is in the first term of her pregnancy. On their nighttime return trip, with her at the wheel, they accidentally run into and kill a Mexican police officer in the middle of the road. They make no report of the accident, wary of the perils of a Mexican jail, but slide the dead cop to the side of the road and return to the United States. They have the front end damage to their car repaired clandestinely and appear to have gotten away with the killing. Quite unexpectedly a vagabond named Jake Shell (Hauer), driving a dumpy old camper truck, shows up at their door hinting that he witnessed the entire incident. Shell blackmails the Kaines, who attempt to appease him. There is a physical confrontation with Shell and the Kaineses, along with perverse sexual innuendo, and an attempt by the Kaines to rid themselves of their nemesis without revealing their secret. 

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The game's story centers around a group of knights called Chevalet Blanc and how the protagonist and her knights take back the kingdom of Elesius, which is being controlled by the Council of Elder Statesmen. The Princess Royal of the kingdom died in an accident, and the king is too ill to rule, which brought about the rise of the council. Like other Wild Arms titles, this takes place on the dying planet Filgaia, this time where the remaining natural resources, food, land and financial assets are at the center of continued armed confrontations. Despite this, Elesius is one of the few peaceful places on Filgaia. Chevalet Blanc's beginnings are anything but noble: two Drifters, Clarissa Arwin and her adoptive brother Felius come to the kingdom of Elesius in pursuit of a Drifter named Rupert Dandridge, who five years ago slew Clarissa's mother, itinerant archaeologist Melissa Arwin, and took from her the powerful sword "Iskender Bey". Clarissa's mission is solely to retrieve that sword, but before much time has passed, she has been confused for Alexia Lynn Elesius, the heir-presumptive to the throne of Elesius who died a year ago under mysterious circumstances. While the Council's rule is generally self-centered, their most constant presence in Elesius takes the form of the "Martial Guard," a mercenary "peacekeeping" force who steal and oppress with impunity. To rally the citizens of Elesius, Clarissa publicly declares herself to be Alexia, and founds a rebel movement called "Chevalet Blanc," after the Founding Knights of Elesius. Its established goal is to defend the citizens of the nation, which will involve defeating the Council. The fact that Rupert is the leader of the Martial Guard only strengthens Clarissa's resolve. 

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The story concerns a field biologist working at "Trench Park" named Radnal vez Krobir. He is a citizen of Tartesh, a Homo neanderthalensis nation which seems to take in much of the west part of the Bottomlands and what in the real world is France and Spain. He is doing a two-year stint as a field guide to tourists from his and other nations who are visiting the Park to see the plants and animals there. During one of those tours, a military officer of the "Kingdom of Morgaf" (real-world Britain and Ireland) is killed by one of the other tourists in his party. The world of the "Down in the Bottomlands". Radnal must call higher authorities to investigate the matter, and in the course of their investigation, they determine that the deceased man had a microprint in his effects outlining a plot by another nation to set off a "starbomb" (nuclear weapon) near the "Barrier Mountains" (a range of mountains joining the Sierra Nevada and the Rif across where the real-world Strait of Gibraltar is), thereby setting off one of the many geologic faults in the area, knocking a gap in the mountains, and reflooding the Bottomlands to form a new central sea, instigated apparently by Krepalga (a Homo sapiens nation occupying all or part of the Middle East, which would have benefited by having a real-world-type Mediterranean Sea up to its west border). Radnal and other characters eventually find who killed the Morgaffo officer and with the unwitting help of a koprit bird (similar to a shrike) native to the Park, track down the location of the bomb, where it is defused. Koprit birds apparently have a habit of stealing bright shiny things; it stole the detonator wire from the bomb and used it to decorate its food-hoard bush to attract a mate, as the wire had been disguised as jewelry to smuggle it in past security. The conspirators had sabotaged all the tour party's transport, leaving them stranded far below sea level on the hot dry abyssal plain. This leaves a squad of Tarteshan secret police and police and army with the job of evacuating the tour party, by giving each member a big backpack tank of drinking water and marching them out; partway up to sea level a helicopter finds them and flies the party the rest of the way. (The author realises that in such an ordeal, people cannot live on such small rations as a capful per day from a water bottle, as too often found in stories and in attempted survival in the real world.) The story ends with Radnal being honored by his fellow subjects of the "Hereditary Tyrant" (i.e., King) of Tartesh at a great festival in Tartesh's capital Tarteshem, for saving the Bottomlands from certain destruction where he meets again a woman named Toglo zev Pamdal, who was in his tour party. She had told him she was a "distant collateral relative" of the Hereditary Tyrant but it turns out is actually his niece. They shake hands at the story's conclusion and presumably begin a romantic relationship. The story is told from Radnal's point of view and we see him describe Trench Park and its animals and plants to the tourists. Through these descriptions, we come to understand the unique geography and ecosystem contained within the Bottomlands and its Trench and how animals and plants would have adapted to a desert environment two kilometers below average sea level. We also see how the geography of the area would have been different from our timeline, including things like deep river canyons as the rivers around the Mediterranean would have incised such canyons in their descent down the old continental shelf; hydroelectric dams on such rivers generated 80% of Tartesh's electricity. 

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In Killing Time, the main character is an ex-Egyptology student out to discover the mystery behind a missing Egyptian artifact. The ancient "Water-Clock of Thoth" had been discovered by his professor of Egyptology, Dr. Hargrove, but the artifact went missing soon after a visit by the expedition's patron, Tess Conway. Tess is the rich inheritor of her family's estate on Matinicus Isle, where she keeps her friends, and pawns close by so that she might gain the true power of the Water-Clock. As the game progresses, the player finds out that Tess has used a number of people to gain what she desires, but at a price. Something went horribly wrong, transforming everyone on the entire isle into either restless ghosts, demons or the undead. In the opening cinematic on all versions of the game, Boldt Castle located on Heart Island in the Thousand Islands region of the Saint Lawrence River is used as the visual representation of the Conway Estate. 

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In 1862, a ship sails from London to Bangkok, on board are Anna Leonowens and her son Louis. The Prime Minister, Kralahome uses his powers of illusion to cause it to appear as if a massive sea serpent is attacking the ship as its battered in a storm. Anna, with the help of Captain Orton, manage to save Louis from drowning. As they approach Bangkok, the Captain fills Anna in on the political structure of the kingdom. In the Grand Palace, in Siam, Anna witnesses King Mongkut receive a gift in the form of a slave named Tuptim, a young woman from Burma. Despite being promised her own house outside of the Palace, Anna is denied such. The King drags Anna to his workshop were he tests new inventions such as hot air balloons, and trains. Louis is taken on a tour of the armory by the Kralahome's henchman, Master Little, who barely misses injury. The King's wives help Anna unpack despite her protests, this is when Anna sees Prince Chulalongkorn and Tuptim getting to know each other in the courtyard. Anna who wants to leave since she won't be receiving the house, changes her mind after she meets the Royal Children, namely Chulalongkorn. With the Kralahome still plotting to overthrow the king, he write a letter to the British claiming Anna is in danger. Anna begins to teach the children only to learn they've never been outside the palace walls. To give the hands on experience she takes all of the royal children around the city to see how other people live, this in turn angers the king when the Kralahome reports this from Master Little telling him of seeing the outing. It boils over into a fight with Anna still complaining about the house she was promised but didn't receive. Chulalongkorn meets with his father to discuss traditions, wanting to be with Tuptim but knowing his father would never allow it. Confused, Mongkut goes to pray to Buddha. While he is, the Kralahome uses his powers on the statues in the room to try and attack the king, which the king's black panther Rama fights off. When Chulalongkorn is kickboxing, Tuptim finally learns he is the crowned prince and that their love is forbidden. But he tells her that he doesn't care about tradition and wants to be with her. Master Little learns of their relationship and tells the Kralahome who plans to use it to anger the king at the right time. Anna goes to the king to learn he is troubled after learning the British are coming because he is allegedly a barbarian, which she knows isn't true. Anna advises the King to throw a banquet for the British when they arrive to show he is civilized. At the dinner, the Kralahome mentions the royal ivory pendant the king is supposed to wear, the one which he gave to his son, who then gave it to Tuptim. When it is revealed Chulalongkorn gave it away, Tuptim is brought in by guards. Dishonored by the relationship, the king threatens to whip Tuptim to death, but she and Chulalongkorn escape into the jungle along with Louis. While they're escaping, the Kralahome uses his powers to guide them through the jungle across a rope bridge. The bridge collapses and Tuptim and Chulalongkorn are almost swept away by a river. The king, having had a change of heart and using one of his hot air balloons, rescues the two with Louis' help distracting Master Little's interference. But on their journey back to the palace, the Kralahome fires a firework destroying the balloon causing it to crash to the ground. Everyone but the king was able to jump into a lake to safety. When the Kralahome leaves victorious, Sir Edward and the royal guards get angry at him for trying to kill the king. An injured bedridden king lays in bed telling his son to be ready to lead Siam when or if he dies, and allows him and Tuptim to be married. The Kralahome loses his position as prime minister, and his newly civilized punishment would be permanently working the elephant stables by cleaning their dung with Master Little as his boss. He then gets beaten up by Master Little after getting angry about his last tooth falling out. But the king doesn't die, he heals and presents Anna with her house outside of the palace walls, and the two of them dance. 

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Shadow Moon returns to life and revives five mutants previously defeated by the Kamen Riders to serve as his personal army. He plots to defeat the Kamen Riders with his army in order to conquer the world. Berry witnesses Shadow Moon's plot and is attacked by the mutants. Masato and his sister Ayumi stumble onto an injured Berry by chance and are chased by the revived mutant army as a result. However, they are saved by the sudden arrival of Kamen Rider ZO on his ZO Bringer motorcycle, who thwarts off the monsters into a nearby abandoned warehouse. ZO is suddenly assisted by Kamen Rider J, who arrives into the warehouse on his J Crosser bike. The five mutants are defeated by the combined forces of the new Double Riders. The two are then challenged by Shadow Moon, who enlarges himself into giant proportions. J grows into giant size as well and fights off Shadow Moon by himself. Shadow Moon is defeated and peace returns to the day. 

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Two Old West con men (Larry Hagman, Louis Gossett Jr.) run a slave-selling scam, then try for the reward on an outlaw. 

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A king, driven from his capital by an emperor, was forming an army and demanded that one person from every noble household become a soldier or face a heavy fine. An impoverished nobleman, too old to serve himself, with three daughters was distressed by this news. His oldest daughter offered to go and was equipped. She told a shepherdess whose sheep were in the ditch, that she pitied her. The shepherdess thanked the daughter calling her a "beautiful girl." Ashamed that she could be recognized so easily, the oldest daughter went home. The second daughter also set out. She scorned the shepherdess for her folly, but the shepherdess bid farewell to the "lovely girl." The second daughter also returned home. The youngest, Belle-Belle, set out. She helped the shepherdess. The shepherdess, a fairy, told her that she had punished her sisters for their lack of helpfulness and stopped them from their mission. She gave Belle-Belle a new horse and equipment, including a magical chest that would appear and disappear. The horse would be able to advise her. The fairy told the girl to call herself Fortuné. The youngest daughter, now called Fortune, set out and reached a city. There she wanted to send gold back from the chest, but when she discovered that she had lost the key, the horse told her how to open the chest. She sent back gold and jewels, but as soon as her sisters touched some, the jewels became glass and the gold turned into counterfeit coins; they told their father to keep the rest safe. Fortuné went to join the king. At the horse's advice, she met a woodcutter who cut down an enormous number of trees, and took him into her service. Then she did the same with a man who tied up one foot to hunt, so there would be some chance of his prey escaping, then a man who put a bandage over his eyes so that he would not shoot everything, a man who could hear everything on the earth, a man who blew hard enough to move windmills (and if he stood too close, knock them over), a man who could drink a lake, and a man who could eat an enormous amount of bread. She asked them to keep their abilities secret. Fortune met the king and queen-dowager, his sister-in-law, who made her welcome. The queen found the knight attractive, and Fortuné found the king attractive. Many ladies also paid her attentions, greatly to her embarrassment. A lady-in-waiting, Florida, whom the queen sent to woo the knight on her behalf, was so in love with Fortuné that she defamed the queen instead. The queen managed to question Fortuné and learn that "he" was not in love, though he sang love songs after the custom of the land, but eventually grew so displeased with his refusal that when news of a dragon came, she told the king that Fortuné had begged leave to be dispatched against it. When the king summoned him, rather than denounce the queen, Fortuné went. The man with the super hearing, heard the dragon coming. At the horse's advice, he had the drinker drink a lake, the strong woodcutter fill it with wine and spices that would make the dragon thirsty, and had all the peasants hide in their houses. The dragon drank and grew drunk. Fortuné attacked and killed it. The king was pleased, but the queen was still displeased with Fortuné. She told the king that he had said he could win back the treasure that the emperor had taken, without any army. Fortuné went with his men, and the emperor said he could have back the treasure only if one man could eat up all the fresh bread in the city. The glutton ate it all. The emperor added that one man must drain all the fountains, reservoirs, and aqueducts, and all the wine-cellars. The drinker did so. The emperor's daughter suggested a race against her, and shared with the fleet-footed hunter the cordial she used, but it put him to sleep. The man who could hear heard him snoring; the sharp-eyed man shot and waked him, and he won the race. The emperor said he could carry away only what one man could carry, and the strong woodcutter carried off everything he owned. They came to a river while they were leaving, the drinker drank it so they could pass. The emperor sent men after them, but the man who powered windmills sank their boats. The servants began to quarrel over their reward, but Fortuné declared that the king would decide their reward, and they submitted themselves to him. The king was pleased. The queen made an open declaration to Fortuné. When Fortuné refused her, she attacked him and herself and called for help, saying that he had attacked her and her injuries stemmed from her resistance. Fortuné was sentenced to be stabbed to death, but taking off the clothing revealed that she was a woman. The king married her. 

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The movie follows a man's search for perfection in a world where life rarely measures up to the idealized images that constantly bombard us. Gary Shaller (Freeman), who gained commercial success in previous years as the keyboard player in the band "On the One", is in a failing marriage with Dora (Gwyneth Paltrow), and working for his former bandmate Paul (Simon Pegg), writing and recording commercial jingles. Gary eventually discovers that he is having lucid dreams about a glamorous woman named Anna (Penélope Cruz), with whom he is deeply infatuated. He aims to learn more about lucid dreaming by buying books and even attending classes taught by an eccentric lucid-dreaming enthusiast, Mel (Danny DeVito). Gary eventually discovers that the girl he dreams about does, in fact, exist. Paul arranges for Gary to meet her, but this proves disappointing, as she fails to live up to the expectations that Gary has built up in his dreams of her. He eventually continues to dream about her, and even soundproofs his apartment, and makes other efforts to be able to sleep longer, so that he can remain with Anna for longer periods of time. Eventually, feeling as though he is betraying Dora, he attempts to go back to her. 

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Grand Nagus Zek, the spiritual leader of the Ferengi race and Quark's idol, arrives on the station and shows Quark and Rom his new project: he has rewritten the Rules of Acquisition, the sacred business proverbs by which the Ferengi live. In the new book, Zek encourages Ferengi everywhere to renounce selfishness and greed and become kind and giving. Zek now wants to lead a life of altruism and wants Quark and Rom to run his charitable foundation. This horrifies Quark and Rom, because profiteering lies at the heart of Ferengi identity, and the Grand Nagus is supposed to be the paragon. Doctor Bashir can find no sign of mental or physical illness in Zek, and his uncharacteristic behavior does not appear to be a ruse. Wanting answers, Quark and Rom break into Zek's shuttle and discover an Orb of the Prophets, which Zek is planning to give to the Bajorans. When Quark is exposed to the Orb, he has a vision in which Zek describes the New Rules of Acquisition as a "gift". Quark deduces that Zek visited the wormhole and contacted the Prophets so that he could use their knowledge of the future for profit, and that they are responsible for Zek's transformation. Quark forcibly takes Zek back to the wormhole to ask the Prophets what they did to him. The Prophets, being immaterial creatures who do not experience time linearly, found Zek's obsession with accumulation of material wealth to be strange and adversarial. They "de-evolved" him to a more primitive state resembling the less greedy ancestors of the Ferengi. They threaten to de-evolve Quark as well, but Quark warns them that if he is also changed, more curious Ferengi will visit the wormhole looking for answers. Because the Prophets like their privacy and find Ferengi annoying, they release Quark and restore Zek to normal. Zek dismantles his charitable foundation and has all copies of the New Rules of Acquisition destroyed. After Zek leaves, Rom confides that he embezzled money from Zek's foundation, which delights and impresses Quark. A subplot involves Bashir being nominated for a medical award which he ends up not winning. Bashir feigns nonchalance, but inside he is seething. 

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It is the first novel featuring Capt. Jean-Luc Picard to be set after Star Trek Nemesis. The plot concerns an attempt to stop a plague on a Romulan colony called Kevratas, and the relationship between Picard and Dr. Beverly Crusher. It also describes Dr. Crusher's first encounter of a similar plague as a teenager on the colony of Arvada III. A faction of the Romulan Star Empire wishes to keep the plague alive in an attempt to undermine newly appointed Romulan Praetor Tal'aura. Picard will be faced with working alongside allies new and old, as well as an enemy from the past who has a way of turning up when Picard least expects. This book also includes characters Doctor Carter Greyhorse, a scientist whose past has landed him in a penal colony, along with Pug Joseph, a former member of Starfleet turned merchant, both of whom served with Picard aboard the USS Stargazer. 

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By the end of the first quarter of the 21st century, the United States has plunged into a state of civil and economic unrest. The military launches a coup d'état, led by Vice President Richard Hawk, and succeeds in gaining control of the nation's government institutions. During this time, Michael Wilson, a fictional relative of Woodrow Wilson, is serving as the 47th President of the United States. Wilson realizes he is the country's last hope for freedom, and he dons a special mech developed in secret by the military to fight Hawk and the rebel forces, aided by his secretary Jody Crawford. Wilson flies aboard Air Force One to the west coast of the United States and begins to liberate cities and outposts, traveling from west to east across the country. After retaking the White House, Wilson pursues Hawk to Las Vegas, but Hawk escapes aboard a Space Shuttle and goes to a space station, planning to launch a nuclear missile at the United States in retribution. Wilson and Hawk battle in space, with Wilson ultimately defeating Hawk and saving the country from nuclear destruction. 

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Ben Holiday, court magician Questor Thews and the sylph Willow each have a vivid, prophetic dream. Ben dreams that Miles Bennett, his former law partner back in Chicago is in trouble. Questor dreams of the location of two ancient books of magic and Willow dreams of a black unicorn containing great power and a golden bridle that can harness the animal. Only the half-dog court scribe Abernathy voices his misgivings about the dreams. Upon returning to the old world, Ben discovers that Miles is fine. Suspicious, he hurries back to Landover. Unbeknownst to him, Meeks (the evil wizard that originally sent Ben into Landover) has stowed away in Ben's clothing using his magic, returning as well. At the castle, Ben finds that Questor has found the books of magic, though they seem useless. One is filled with illustrations of unicorns and the other appears burned from the inside. Willow is still missing. That night, Ben is attacked by Meeks. The old wizard casts a glamour over each of them, so that Meeks appears as Ben and Ben appears as a common peasant. Failing to recognize his true identity and thinking him an intruder, Questor has Ben thrown out of the castle. Ben searches for Willow, hoping to convince her of his identity and prevent her from delivering the bridle to Meeks. Along the way he encounters Edgewood Dirk, a prism cat from the fairy world. Dirk is able to recognize Ben as the High King, and taunts him for his inability to overcome his situation. Ben is able to arrange a meeting with Willow's father, the River Master, who fails in an attempt to capture the Black Unicorn and keep it as his own. The River Master blames Ben for his loss and sends him away without help. Later, Ben encounters the Earth Mother, who tells them that Willow has gone to the Deep Fell to retrieve the golden bridle from the witch Nightshade. Unsure if the witch has returned to the Deep Fell since their last encounter, Ben enlists the help of the G’home Gnomes, Fillip and Sot, to investigate. They find that she has indeed returned and are apprehended. Nightshade reveals that she is no longer in possession of the bridle, it having been stolen by the dragon Strabo some time ago. Seeing an opportunity to regain the bridle from the dragon, Nightshade transports herself and her captives to Strabo's lair. Meanwhile, Questor and Abernathy have been evicted from the castle for failing to capture the black unicorn. They make their way to Strabo's lair, seeking the dragon's help in determining the nature of the black unicorn. Nightshade and her prisoners appear, and Strabo admits that he has already given up the bridle to Willow for the price of a song. This infuriates Nightshade, and the meeting devolves into a furious battle between dragon and witch, while Ben and company escape. Ben is finally able to convince his friends of his identity, and they eventually come across Willow, who has harnessed the black unicorn in a small meadow. Meeks arrives, still in disguise, and tries to persuade a confused Willow into bringing the unicorn to him instead of the true king. Edgewood Dirk enters into the confusion, prompting Meeks to launch an explosive attack against the Prism Cat. Willow mounts the black unicorn and flees, while the firefight turns the meadow into a scorched battlefield and scatters the party. Abernathy, Questor, and Willow are captured by Meeks and his army of imps. Alone, Ben and Edgwood Dirk have one last cryptic conversation, and the cat disappears. Thinking on the cats’ words, Ben acknowledges his love for Willow, and finds that he can break Meek's spell by conquering his self-deception. Ben summons the Paladin, who charges off to rescue Willow. As the Paladin battles with skeletal creatures summoned by Meeks, Abernathy bites the wizard in the leg, making him drop the books of magic. Streaking through the air, the black unicorn rips the binding from the books, releasing a multitude of white unicorns who scatter. A brief but intense battle of magic between the unicorn and Meeks erupts, and Meeks is finally vanquished. It is revealed that the fairy world sent unicorns into various worlds to help restore peoples' faith in magic. Landover wizards from long ago captured these unicorns, imprisoning their spirits in one book and their bodies in another. Occasionally the spirit of the unicorns would break free, manifesting as the black unicorn, and the bridle was created to recapture this creature. Meeks had hidden the books before becoming exiled to Earth, and sent the dreams to set into motion events that would return possession of the books to him. In the epilogue, a white unicorn dashes down the streets of Chicago, leaving onlookers in wonder. 

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The novel begins with Ben Holiday, a trial lawyer from Chicago, lamenting the loss of his wife and unborn child in a car accident. He finds an advertisement in an upscale Christmas catalog claiming to offer a magical kingdom for one million dollars by a man named Mr. Meeks. Although skeptical, Ben pursues the offer out of a desperate need to start a new life. Ben receives a magical medallion and is transported through a swirling mist to the kingdom of Landover. He learns that Landover is a world that connects many other worlds such as Earth. It is surrounded by the Fairy Mist wherein reside creatures of Fairy that created Landover and guard the passages to these worlds. Unfortunately, he finds it not exactly as described. He soon finds that Landover has not had a true king in twenty years. The son of the last king did not wish to take up the throne and escaped with the court wizard, Meeks, to Earth. They have been selling the throne to dozens of people in the past two decades, but no one has been able to face the challenge and successfully complete so much as a few months as king. Further, kings of Landover used to be protected by a magical knight called the Paladin, but he has not been seen since the last king's death. Further, Ben has only four loyal subjects. The court wizard is a hack named Questor Thews, who is also Meeks' half-brother. Abernathy is the court scribe, who was unfortunately transformed into a large dog by one of Questor's spells gone awry. Finally, two creatures called Kobolds, Bunion and Parsnip, serve Ben as caretakers of the castle and as protection against the wild creatures of the kingdom. Ben's coronation is barely attended, so he decides to travel the land to gain the pledges of the local rulers. He travels first to meet with the Lords of the Greensward, the most prominent landowners in the kingdom. They agree to serve Ben only on the condition that he rid them of Strabo, a dragon that ravages their countryside. Next Ben visits the River Master and the Fairy fold of Elderew, a city of outcasts from the Fairy Mists. The River Master also places conditions on his pledge, requiring Ben to stop the Lords of the Greensward from polluting their rivers. In the river country Ben stumbles upon a sylph named Willow. She is also a fairy creature who turns into a tree some evenings. She claims that the Fairies have foretold that she will marry Ben. Though he initially rebuffs her, he finds himself falling in love with her over time. Ben is entreated by Fillip and Sot, two of a race of thievish "G'Home Gnomes" to rescue some of their people from a clan of trolls. They manage to do so, but barely escape with their lives. They finally decide to ask for the help of the witch Nightshade, and travel to her home in the marshes known as the Deep Fell. She tells Ben to enter the Fairy Mists, where he may be able to obtain mind-controlling Io Powder to use on Strabo. Ben does so and endures a series of frightening trials by the Fairy creatures to obtain the powder. Emerging from the mists, he finds that Nightshade has used her magic to banish all of his companions to Abbadon, Landover's underworld. Nightshade attempts to trick Ben out of his Io Powder, but Ben uses some of the substance on the witch and sends her to an uncertain fate in the Fairy Mists. Ben travels to the Fire Springs to confront Strabo, and is surprised to find the dragon to be sentient and rather well-spoken, if still vicious. Ben uses the Io Powder on Strabo, and rides him to Abaddon to rescue his friends with the help of two g'home gnomes He also extracts a promise from the dragon to stay out of the Greensward. Finally, Ben is challenged by the Mark, lord of Abaddon, to a duel for the throne. Ben's medallion responds during the fight and transforms Ben into the Paladin, allowing him to subdue the demon. The challenge is witnessed by the leaders from the Greensward, Elderew, and the Troll tribes, who then swear their allegiance. Ben Holiday, King of Landover, then sets about to restore Landover to its former glory. 

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The Druid of Shannara takes off where The Scions of Shannara left off, focusing on the story of Walker Boh as he attempts to fulfill the task given to him by the shade of Allanon, to return the Druid castle of Paranor to the Four Lands. Left in the Hall of Kings with the Asphinx attacking, Walker fends off the poison with his magic for days whereas the Asphinx could have killed any normal mortal. Finally realizing that there is only one way out of his predicament, he breaks off his arm in terrible agony. He fights his way through the Hall of Kings and amazingly finds his way to Storlock for the Gnome Healers to help him to the best of their abilities. We are told right away that Coll is still alive, and the thing Par killed was a fake. Coll is imprisoned in a prison called Southwatch and is trying to figure out a way to escape. Meanwhile, The King of the Silver River realizes the state of the Four Lands and makes a beautiful woman out of the elements surrounding him in his garden including a dove for a heart. The King tells his daughter, Quickening, of the task that she must carry out, for there is trouble in a lost city to the north, and the people to take with her. Morgan Leah returns to Culhaven to carry out a final request from his old friend Steff who met his demise in The Scions of Shannara and quickly becomes imprisoned. Rimmer Dall hears about Quickening and the rumors surrounding her appearances: that she's the daughter of The King of the Silver River and is making miracles happen. Rimmer Dall dispatches a dangerous assassin known as Pe Ell to kill her. When Quickening goes to Culhaven, she quickly restores hope in the land by bringing back the beautiful Meade Gardens. Doing this, though, takes a toll on her and she becomes weak. Quickening falls into Pe Ell's arms and asks him to find her somewhere to sleep. Pe Ell does so, but doesn't kill her because he is attracted to her. After Quickening recovers she requests Pe Ell to break Morgan Leah out of prison, and he does so, reluctantly. Morgan Leah is also attracted to Quickening and both he and Pe Ell agree to go on a journey with her. Morgan Leah because of his instant emotional attraction and Pe Ell because he wants to find out what makes her so special. The three set off to go find Walker Boh. While this is happening, Walker had returned home under the care of Cogline. Walker, still very weak, lies in bed as Cogline tries to coax Walker to get up and think positively. Rimmer Dall with a handful of Shadowen confront Cogline, bound to take out the last of the messengers of the druids. Cogline knew this was coming after hearing from Allanon and grabbed the Druid Histories before he and Rumor were killed. Finally, Quickening reaches Walker Boh and heals him the best she can, though his arm is still missing. She takes the party north to get the black elfstone and in return Morgan will get his sword back, Pe Ell will increase his magical abilities, and Walker Boh will become whole. They travel north and meet Horner Dees who is the only known survivor to ever go into Eldwist, an ancient city turned completely to stone. He had no intentions of ever going back, but he is soon persuaded. They finally make it to Eldwist and confront Uhl Belk, a brother of The King of the Silver River who has been there just as long. Days go by avoiding a creeper called The Rake, and the Maw Grint, the child of the Stone King, which is in the form of a gigantic worm-like creature that turns to stone everything in his path. Finally they were able to trick Uhl Belk into letting go of the black elfstone and as soon as this happens Pe Ell takes off with Quickening as a hostage. Confronted by Walker, Dees, and Morgan, Pe Ell stabs Quickening, though it appears that Quickening actually pushes herself against Pe Ell's magical blade, thus taking from Pe Ell the choice of killing her. Surprised, confused and enraged, Pe Ell flees. He doesn't get far before he dies in consequence of having killed Quickening, apparently from some kind of retaliatory magic which Walker suggests might have been placed on Quickening by the King of the Silver River to avenge her death. Walker Boh, Morgan Leah, and Horner Dees take Quickening out of the city and up to the cliffs above Eldwist. Quickening bids farewell to Morgan and the others. She tells Morgan to sheath the broken Sword of Leah in the earth. Quickening then calls for Walker, who takes her to the edge of the cliff. Using her magic, she communicates to Walker the purpose for her existence, which is to restore Eldwist, freeing it from its stone shell. At Quickening's request, Walker releases her, and she falls from the cliff and disintegrates. The dust of Quickening's body settles over Eldwist, and plant life spontaneously grows, quickly covering the whole peninsula, leaving the only visible stone the domed building wherein Uhl Belk resides. The magic also restores the broken Sword of Leah, a final symbol of the love between Morgan and Quickening. The three of them leave, all taking different paths. Horner goes home, Morgan leaves to find Par, and Walker leaves to recover lost Paranor. Also mentioned briefly in the book, Wren journeys with Garth to the village of Grimpen Ward in the Wilderun to seek out a seer called the Addershag, hoping to learn the fate of the Elves. Wren is told by the Addershag to go south to the Blue Divide and light a fire for three days above the caves of the Rocs. Wren and Garth escape Grimpen Ward, chased by the men who have been keeping the Addershag as a prisoner. 

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John Ross, having failed on a mission from the Word in which fourteen school children were killed in San Sobel, California, tries to leave his life as a Knight of the Word behind him. He returns to the Fairy Glen in Wales to tender his resignation to the Lady, but she refuses to appear to him; instead, he meets the ghost of his ancestor, Owain Glyndŵr, who tells him that the decision to give up being a Knight is not his to make. Frustrated, John returns to America, where in Boston he meets and instantly falls in love with the beautiful Stefanie, who seems to amply reciprocate his feelings. Deliriously happy, he embarks together with her on a long trek across the United States, culminating with both of them finding work at a homeless center in Seattle. Feeling that he has found a very satisfactory new life, with a loving woman at his side and a demanding job helping an important social cause in cooperation with idealistic, sympathetic activists, he increasingly feels that his time as a Knight of the Word can be relegated to the past. He ignores the infrequent dreams of a demon-haunted future, including one in which he kills his much-beloved boss, Simon Lawrence. Lawrence is known locally as "the Wizard of Oz" because of his successful charity ventures in Seattle (AKA the Emerald City); by energetic campaigning, and building up a reputation as an idealistic, dedicated activist, Lawrence succeeded in pushing many politicians to support the homeless - though this is not a very popular cause and with little electoral benefit accruing. However, Lawrence's sterling reputation is threatened when he is being investigated for alleged financial impropriety, by a famous reporter named Andrew Wren who is (without his own knowledge) - influenced and manipulated by a demon. This demon is a changeling - during the day it works to subvert, and at night morphs into a giant hyena-like creature to feed on the homeless living in the ruins under modern Seattle. Nest Freemark, now a 19-year-old college student, has returned to Hopewell, Illinois for the weekend before Halloween. She muses on events over the last five years, including her grandfather's death in the spring, Wraith's disappearance when she turned 18, and the fact that she is no longer in touch with most of her childhood friends (or John Ross). She has not used her magic in years and is unsure if she has it any longer. She travels with her twiggy sylvan companion, Pick, through the park and has an encounter with the tatterdemalion Ariel, a ghost-like messenger of the Word formed from the memories of dead children. Nest learns that John Ross is in need of her help and reluctantly agrees to fly to Seattle to talk to him. She is disturbed to learn that John is now especially vulnerable to falling to the side of the Void, and the Word has dispatched someone to kill him if this happens. This resounds with Nest, as she recalls that John admitting that he would have killed her five years ago if she had been turned to the Void. Arriving in Seattle, Nest takes a walk at night with Ariel; they hear the demon hunting and killing people in the underground city, but Ariel will not let her pursue it. She meets with John the next day, but cannot convince him to return to his duties as a Knight; however, she does cause changes in his dreams - now John also dreams about killing her. Nest also runs into O'olish Amaneh, the Word- serving Native American that she met five years before, and finds that he is the one sent to kill John if he should turn to the Void. That night, Ariel informs Nest that Boot, a sylvan in a local park, has seen the demon. Just as they're getting crucial information from Boot, the demon attacks them in its hyena form and kills Boot, his owl Audrey, and Ariel. It chases Nest through a nearby residential area, but she narrowly escapes on a bus. Later that same night, the demon sets fire to the homeless shelter and John and Stefanie rescue many tenants, but one of their coworkers is killed in the fire. John was exceedingly groggy and foggy-headed when Stefanie tried to wake him to help deal with the fire, and he's troubled by this. The next day, Halloween, John and Nest meet. They share information and decide that Nest should leave town. Andrew Wren, in possession of (demon-provided) evidence that John and Simon are embezzling from the shelter, meets with John and leaves him with the suspicion that Simon is the demon. His suspicions are reinforced when Stefanie tells him that Simon has fired him, to distance himself from the scandal. John heads to a fund-raising event at the art museum and confronts Simon, who reveals himself as a demon, nearly kills John, and leaves him on the floor. John repents for faltering in his service to the Word and is once again infused with magic to heal and strengthen him. He searches for Simon with the intent to kill him, but just as he finds him, Nest intervenes. On the way out of town, she realized that Stefanie is actually the demon, because of parallels between Stefanie's actions and those of Nest's father (also a demon), not to mention the timing issues and other evidence that lead her to this truth. John realizes that he's been subtly led toward the Void ever since Stefanie came into his life, after San Sobel; as a shape-shifting demon, Stefanie forged documents to support the embezzlement accusations, attacked Nest and her friends in the park, set fire to the shelter to explain the wounds she'd sustained trying to kill Nest, lied about John being fired, and morphed into Simon at the museum so John would be tricked into killing the real, innocent Simon and completing his turn to the Void. Finally, John confronts Stefanie at his apartment. She does not deny being a demon, but tells John that even so he is still in love with her (which he feels to be true) and that she could continue to make him happy. When he rejects the offer, the demon-Stefanie, afraid of his now-returned magic, leaps out a window. Faced with the demon's onslaught when it crashes to the street below, the waiting Nest finds that Wraith has not left her- he lives within her and Nest can assume his form in response to threatening dark magic. Together, she and John destroy Stefanie - or, in fact, they destroy the shape-changing demon who had taken her form as well as various other forms, human and non-human, male and female. (Though the term is not explicitly used, Stefanie in fact fits well with the traditional depiction of a succubus - a female demon who takes the form of a human woman in order to seduce men.) Nest returns to Hopewell, and John resumes his service as a Knight of the Word, once again using his dreams of the future to change things in the present and keep the Void at bay. 

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Nest Freemark is a fourteen-year- old girl of Hopewell, Illinois, who has inherited magical powers from her mother's lineage. She lives with her grandmother Evelyn and grandfather Bob, as her mother apparently committed suicide at a young age. She is one of a rare few in the world who can see the spiritual warfare underlying the events in the real world. She can see "feeders" - small shadowy creatures that feed on human emotion, influence thoughts, and ultimately attempt to "devour" people, causing their real world demise. Nest is enlisted to guard the nearby park and wilderness, a regional feeding ground for feeders, as many generations of Freemark women before her. She is aided in this task by a six- inch tree-like sylvan named Pick, an insightful barn owl named Daniel, and an ethereal wolfen creature named Wraith, who appears at opportune moments to protect Nest, but whose origins are initially unknown. On July first, Nest is awakened by Pick and informed that a young local girl, Bennett Scott, has run away from home (and her mother's abusive boyfriend) into the park and is at risk of being attacked by feeders. She rescues the girl and is almost overrun by feeders when Wraith appears to fend them off and help her escape. Meanwhile, a demon of the Void has come to the town of Hopewell. Once a human, this demon now possesses magical powers including the ability to blend in easily among other people and influence their thoughts. He befriends Derry Howe, a less intelligent resident of Hopewell, and places in his mind the idea of setting a bomb during the fireworks display on the Fourth of July. Since the display is sponsored by the company that owns the factory, Derry is fooled into believing that the company will have to end a town-crippling strike in apology for the injuries at the show. The following morning, Nest meets up with her friends, including Bennett's older brother Jared, upon whom she has a crush. They run into a teen bully named Danny Abbot, and Nest uses magic to knock him to the ground to protect her friends. Later that day, an alarmed Pick leads Nest deep into the park forest and shows her a great oak tree with crevasses in its trunk. The tree is actually a prison for a maentwrog - a powerful magic beast known for devouring multitudes of people. The demon has weakened the tree and the maentwrog is threatening to break free, but Nest and Pick do a patch job to strengthen the tree's integrity. At dinner, Nest is introduced by her grandfather to a traveler named John Ross, who has recently come to town. He claims to have known Nest's mother, but his true purpose for being in Hopewell is to track and defeat the demon. John is a "Knight of the Word", charged with helping preserve the balance between the Word (the representation of goodness and light in the world) and the Void (the summation of evil and darkness). After his post-graduate work, John traveled to Wales and happened upon a glade called Fairy Glen in the country around Betws-y- Coed. He is met by the Lady (the voice of the Word) and learns that he is the descendant of Owain Glyndŵr, a great Welsh "patriot and warrior" who served the Word. John was then charged by the Lady to embrace the Word and fight against the Void whenever he is called on. After returning to America, he is visited by a Native American named O'olish Amaneh, who reminds him of his oath and hands him a rune-engraved staff of great magic. Upon taking the staff, John's leg is crippled as a reminder that he is dependent upon the staff, and through it, the Word. John fights the Void in both the present, and an apocalyptic future where demons are beginning to enslave humanity. When John sleeps, he has unavoidable dreams in which he experiences his life in this horrific time. In these visions he finds clues concerning his new mission, as well as the consequences if he should fail. During these visions, he is a skilled warrior of magic, free of his limp, fighting valiantly to free slaves and thwart the demons. However, if John uses his magic in the present, he finds himself without that magic for the duration of his next dream. He is reduced to a vulnerable fugitive who has to scurry and hide to avoid the demon armies. John has found through his dreams that the demon is Nest's father, and if John does not stop him, Nest will be converted to serving the Void and will be a great leader of the demons in the future. That evening, Nest sneaks out after dark to meet with O'olish Amaneh, whom she fatefully ran into earlier that day. O'olish Amaneh is the last of the Sinnissippi tribe that used to live in the area, and invites her to dance with the spirits of the Sinnissippi. At midnight, he summons the spirits of his tribe and dance among them. Nest sees a vision of her grandmother as a young lady, running with feeders and interacting with the demon. O'olish leaves Hopewell that night contemplating his own visions, while Nest struggles with the meaning of hers. The next day, July 3, John attends church with the Freemark family when they find the feeders crawling all over, invisible to the congregation, but Wraith appears and scares them off. The feeders have never entered the church before, and Nest realizes that the demon must be nearby. The demon confronts her in a wing of the church, threatens her, and demonstrates his power by killing a church member. That night, the demon influences Danny Abbot to tie up Nest and leave her in a cave. The demon comes to Nest and taunts her, telling her he can do anything he wants to and she is powerless. While the demon is away, Nest is rescued by her friends and grandfather. In addition, while John Ross is spending a romantic evening with his new love interest Josie, the local cafe owner, the demon influences a group of townspeople to attack him. John is incapacitated and forced to use magic to escape. While everyone is otherwise engaged, the demon confronts Nest's grandmother, Evelyn, at the Freemark house and is surprised to find that she no longer has magic of her own. She assaults him in futility with a shotgun, and he kills her. However, anticipating her death, Evelyn had left Nest a secret note telling her to trust in her magic and in Wraith. Finally, on July 4, Jared Scott is beaten by his mother's boyfriend and slips into a coma. The feeders, however, drive the boyfriend into a craze and he ends up accidentally killing himself. Pick is captured by the demon, and Nest and John confront him at the site of the maentwrog tree. While Nest's grandfather stops Derry Howe from injuring anyone at the fireworks show, the demon manages to release the maentwrog. Through extensive magic use, John is able to defeat the creature, but passes out. The demon confronts Nest alone and teaches her of her past. She learns that her grandmother once became friends with the demon and would "run with him" instead of fighting against him. At this time, she thought him simply another person, not a demon. The demon tried to seduce her grandmother, but she resisted, and turned to the side of the Word. In revenge, the demon seduced her daughter, Nest's mother, and she bore him a daughter, Nest. When Nest's mother found out after Nest was born that he was a demon, she apparently lost her mind and committed suicide. Now the demon is back for Nest, and by touching her, he can convince her to join the Void. Wraith appears, but the demon reveals that Wraith is actually a gift from the demon, sent to protect Nest until he could come back and claim her. Nest holds the demon at bay for a time, but when he is about to lay his hand on her, Wraith turns on the demon and tears him to pieces. Nest learns from Pick that even though Wraith was created by the demon, her grandmother long ago expended all of her magic to convince Wraith to defend Nest against the demon as well. The next day, Nest and her grandfather decide to be foster parents for Bennett Scott, as the kids have been legally removed from their home situation. Nest visits the hospital and uses her magic to bring Jared out of his coma, while John Ross leaves Hopewell on a bus, knowing his life cannot afford him the luxury of staying with Josie. He falls asleep, anticipating a new mission from the Word. 

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John Ross has a vision of the future where a crucified Knight of the Word (one that resembles himself) tells him that a "Gypsy morph" is about to be created in the present. The creation of a Gypsy morph is a rare event - it is a convergence of magic that can become a powerful tool for either the Void or the Word depending on who unlocks its secret. The morph, however, will dissipate within a month if the secret remains hidden and the magic will be lost. John manages to catch the morph in the Pacific Northwest and escape his demon pursuers. The morph changes from creature to creature before settling on the appearance of a four- year-old boy. The only word the boy says is "Nest", prompting John to head back to Hopewell, Illinois to find out if Nest Freemark, whom he has not seen in ten years, can help him. However a resourceful demon named Findo Gask has been tracking John. He has recruited three other demons - Penny Dreadful (a young goth-type girl with crazy red hair and a penchant for self-destruction), Twitch (a half-crazed hulking albino man), and an ur'droch (a lethal demon who remains in its dark, shadowy form instead of taking on a human guise). Findo has heard the Gypsy morph's words in the ether and knows where to go to intercept John Ross. He and the three other demons arrive in town before him. Nest, now a 29-year-old divorcee, had won several Olympic track gold medals, but had to retire from running because she nearly turned into the ghost-wolf Wraith during an event. She still lives in her house near the park and tends to the area with the sylvan, Pick. Four days before Christmas, she is visited by Findo Gask and immediately recognizes him as a demon. He threatens her but does not harm her. She also meets Penny at church, but does not realize she is a demon. Later that day, Bennett Scott, whom Nest saved from falling off a cliff when Bennett was a preschooler fifteen years earlier, appears on her doorstep. Bennett is now a single mother of a young girl, Harper, and trying to get clean from a drug addiction. Nest naturally invites her to stay with her. That night, while Christmas caroling, Nest and her church group are attacked by Twitch. Nest nearly has to call on Wraith when Penny appears, calls him off and pretends that he is a mentally disabled relative, and no one is seriously hurt. Later that night, John Ross arrives with the Gypsy morph boy, whom they decide to call "Little John". The next morning Nest and John fill each other in on recent events. Bennett and Harper go for a walk in the park where they meet Penny. Penny offers Bennett drugs, but before she can accept, O'olish Amaneh appears and takes them home. Nest then goes for a walk in the park with O'olish, whom she also has not seen in ten years, who suggests that if Nest spends some time attempting to communicate with Little John instead of waiting for him to open up to her it may help unlock his secrets. He also tells her that soon he may never see her again as he plans to return to his ancestors. He then mysteriously disappears, as usual. Nest takes his advice and tries to talk to Little John, but no progress is made. Later that day the group does some tobogganing and narrowly avoids an assassination attempt by Findo Gask, thanks to Pick's last-minute warning. Instead, Findo Gask kills the park worker Ray Childress that night with the trap he intended for Nest and her guests. The next evening O'olish Amaneh again appears to Nest, and encourages her to persevere with Little John. After he leaves her, he is pursued by Findo Gask and his demon minions. Surrounded, he disappears in a whirlwind of snow. That night, Nest, Bennett, and the kids go to a neighborhood Christmas party while John spends some time with his old flame, Josie Jackson. Bennett abandons her child at the party, leaving Nest a note explaining how she intends to leave for a while. She meets up with Penny who gives her drugs, then Penny and Findo Gask trick her into falling off the cliff in the park that nearly claimed her fifteen years ago. Nest returns home with Harper and Little John and is attacked by the ur'droch. Wraith comes forth from her to successfully repel him. Before Wraith reenters Nest, Little John calls her "Mama" and runs into her arms, but refuses to do so after Wraith returns to Nest, foreshadowing what is to come. The next day, Christmas Eve, Bennett's body is found and Nest has to tell Harper that her mother has died, and that now she will be Harper's family. That evening, however, Harper and Little John are kidnapped by Findo Gask. Nest knows from previous interactions with Findo Gask that he doesn't know that Little John is the Gypsy morph. She also realizes that Penny is in league with Findo Gask and they are likely hiding out at the house where she was attacked by Twitch. She and John head over to the house for a preemptive strike, but before doing so, Nest knows she needs to check to see if the demons have booby-trapped or otherwise warded the house with invisible magic. She needs Pick to find this out for her, so she sends out Wraith to find Pick in the park. Wraith bounds forth and runs from within her, this time severing their magical tie. Nest realizes neither one of them was happy with Wraith being trapped within her, and knows it is for the best that he remain separate but near to her, still remaining her protector. Nest, Wraith and John Ross are successful in destroying Findo Gask's three demonic henchmen (Penny, Twitch, and the ur'droch) and rescuing the children, but John is mortally poisoned. Finally, when Little John sees that Wraith has left Nest permanently, the Gypsy morph is able to become what it was meant to be: an unborn child of destiny within Nest's womb. Findo Gask, thinking that the Gypsy morph's time ran out and its magic had dissipated, leaves town. Nest, perceiving her magical conception, decides to name the child John Ross Freemark, and heads back for home to start a new life with Harper and her future child. John Ross, weak and poisoned, lays down by the river in the park. As he passes into death, he sees the Lady, the voice of the Word, reaching out to him and calling him home. As John takes her hand his body disappears and his staff falls to the ground. O'olish Amaneh appears from the shadows, picks up the staff and surveys the horizon in contemplation of the continuous struggle between the Word and the Void. 

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The novel is divided into three sections. The first and third section depict the historical investigation of a fictional Javier Cercas into the life of the falangist Rafael Sánchez Mazas. The second section is a biographical retelling of Mazas's life. In the first section of the novel, a fictionalized version of the author, also called Javier Cercas and a journalist, interviews the son of Mazas. During the interview Cercas is told the story of how Mazas's escapes from execution by the Republicans at the end of the Spanish Civil War with the help of a lone soldier. Encouraged by his eccentric girlfriend, a TV fortune teller, Javier begins investigating the incident. Early on, he writes a brief article in his newspaper based on the retelling by Mazas's son. In response to this Cercas becomes obsessed with finding the soldier who spared the life of Mazas. The second section of the novel takes place during the war itself (1936–1939). The nucleus of this section of the book is Rafael Sánchez Mazas's life. Cercas presents him as a writer and idealist of the Falange Española and close collaborator of José Antonio Primo de Rivera. The narrative in this section focuses on the particulars of his escape from execution at the end of the Spanish Civil War. When a group of prisoners is taken to the forest to be executed, Mazas is able to flee and hide in the bush. A Republican soldier finds him but decides to spare his life and when asked by another soldier if anyone is there he replies that no one is. Helped by several deserters, Mazas evades the retreating Republican forces and eventually returns to Nationalist custody where he became an important propagandist for Francoist Spain. In the third section in the novel, after having written the biography in the second section, the Cercas character is still curious about the story of Mazas's escape. Following a series of leads, Cercas comes in contact with an old man named Miralles. Miralles had fought for the Republicans in the civil war and later became a member of the French Foreign Legion responsible for heroic feats during the Second World War. Cercas discovers him sequestered in a retirement home in his old age. Cercas comes to believe that Miralles was the soldier who saved Mazas from execution. However, Miralles will neither confirm nor deny having been the soldier to save Mazas. The fictional Cercas ends the novel with a monologue questioning the historical explanation which he had investigated and the nature of heroes. 

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Old Joy tells the story of two friends, Kurt (Will Oldham) and Mark (Daniel London), as they reunite for a weekend camping trip in the Cascade mountain range and Bagby Hot Springs, east of Portland, Oregon. Kurt lives a hand-to-mouth hippie lifestyle, while Mark has moved on from that scene and gotten a proper job and a house. The film is a story of friendship, loss and alienation. For Mark, the weekend outing offers a respite from the pressure of his imminent fatherhood. Tagging along for the ride is Lucy, Mark's dog (played by Reichardt's dog of the same name). 

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In 1843, the fourteenth year of the Tenpō Era, ten years before the arrival of Commodore Matthew Perry and the Black Ships, Edo is under attack by beasts from the underworld, known as . Members of the Bansha Aratamesho, called the , are assembled to repel the emergence of these yoi. 

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In his late 50s, King Conan of Aquilonia engages in his final struggle with his arch-foe, the black magician Thoth-Amon of Stygia, servant of the evil god Set. First, Conan must journey into Hyperborea and rescue his kidnapped son, Prince Conn, from an unholy alliance between Thoth-Amon and the witch queen, Louhi. Next, Conan and Conn carry the struggle to their enemy's stronghold in Stygia itself at the head of an invading army, with the aid of a white druid named Diviatix. Pursuing their defeated foe southward, they confront him again, first in the kingdom of Zembabwei and, at last, near the very edge of the world, where Conan and Thoth-Amon face each other in a final astral duel. Conan of Aquilonia depicts the coming of age of Conan's son, Conn. In the beginning, Conn is still very much of a boy and is afraid of a heavy belting which he could expect from his father for disobedience. By the end, he's already a seasoned warrior, who took part in various kinds of battle, escaped from capture, avoided imminent death, saved his father's life, and has a crucial role in the final defeat of Conan's old enemy Thoth-Amon - making him quite ready to succeed as King Conan II (which he would seven years hence, in Conan of the Isles). 

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The story takes place roughly sixteen years after the events of Far- Seer. In lieu of Afsan's discovery of the Quintaglio's real place in the universe, the Larskian faith has been abolished and worship of the Original Five hunters reinstated. Dybo is now the Emperor, with Afsan as his court astrologer, and Novato has been put in charge of the Quintaglio Exodus; a project meant to help the Quintaglios escape from their doomed world before it breaks apart. Toroca, son of Afsan and Novato, is now head of the Geological Survey of Land, meant to take a global inventory of the resources available for the Exodus project. While undertaking the Geological Survey, Toroca finds a mysterious blue artifact, made of a seemingly indestructible material even harder than diamond. It appears to be mechanical, with moving parts, but having been found in some of the oldest rocks, is too old to have been manufactured by Quintaglios. He also begins to take notice of clues which cast into doubt his belief in the origin of the world as set forth in the book of Lubal. The world appears to be much older than five thousand kilodays, due to the rate of erosion being too slow, and during an expedition to the South Pole, he finds that it is inhabited entirely by many unique types of Wingfingers. Toroca hypothesises that they evolved from a common wingfinger ancestor. Meanwhile, Dybo's rule has been challenged by Rodlox, the governor of the province Edz'Toolar. As Afsan had previously suspected in Far-Seer, Rodlox claims that the children of the previous Empress were exempted from the culling of the Bloodpriests, with the weakest child being made the future Emperor (as opposed to the strongest as tradition dictates) and the rest being sent away so that the royal family could be more easily manipulated. Rodlox claims that he is Dybo's brother, and that he was the strongest child and thus the rightful emperor. The Imperial Bloodpriest goes missing shortly after, his absence bolstering Rodlox's conspiracy theory. Much political turmoil follows; all across the land, Bloodpriests are driven out and sometimes killed. With no means of birth control, the Quintaglio population begins to swell eightfold as a result. With the Quintaglios' natural predisposition towards territorial aggression, it is only a matter of time before civil war erupts. Dybo consults Afsan, his most trusted advisor, to come up with a solution for the problem. If Rodlox were to become the new Emperor, he would cancel the Exodus and doom the Quintaglios to extinction- Dybo must win Rodlox's challenge. Rather than face him in single combat, as Dybo would most certainly lose to Rodlox, Afsan suggests that all eight of the Empress' children participate in a replay of the culling, against a scaled-up Bloodpriest: a Blackdeath. Such a scenario would give Dybo a one-in-eight chance of victory. Afsan helps Dybo prepare for battle against the Blackdeath. When Afsan finds out that one of his children has been murdered, her throat slashed open by a piece of broken mirror, he undertakes an investigation to try to find her killer. Dybo begins to train for his battle against the Blackdeath. Toroca finds himself increasingly attracted to Babnol, a member of the Geological survey team. Babnol in turn worries about Toroca's obsession with the blue artifact, and she sneaks into his cabin, steals it, and dumps it overboard. The Geological Survey team must now head back to where the original artifact was discovered, to try to find another one. Meanwhile, back on land, the congestion has gotten unbearable. With the Bloodpriests in dispute, seven out of every eight Quintaglio hatchlings have not been culled, and the population has swelled. Tensions are boiling, and the situation explodes when mass Dagamant (a Quintaglio bloodlust fueled by territorial aggression) occurs. Many Quintaglios are killed in the ensuing battle before the situation is defused. It becomes apparent that this will happen again and again until the Bloodpriests are reinstated. The Geological Survey team returns to the coast of Fra'Toolar, where the original artifact was found, to search for another. To speed up the process, they resort to blasting the cliffs, surmising that the mysterious blue material will not be damaged by the explosions. Their blasting exposes an enormous object made of the blue material, and after finding a mysterious double door, explore the inside. Within, they find the mummified remains of an extraterrestrial, and various creatures that are extinct on the Quintaglio's world, among them, birds. Another of Afsan's children has been murdered. Suspicion falls upon another of Afsan's children, Drawtood. Afsan confronts Drawtood, who confesses to his crime. Suffering from paranoia, Drawtood had intended to murder all of his siblings, out of fear that they were going to come after him. Rather than face the consequences of his actions, Drawtood commits suicide, and drinks a vial of poison. Soon, it is time for the battle against the Blackdeath. After being starved for several days, the Tyrannosaur is released into an arena, where it proceeds to devour each of the Royal siblings one by one. Rodlox doesn't go down without a fight, and indeed, almost defeats the Blackdeath by utilising his superior agility to disorient it. It topples over and he leaps on its back to deliver the finishing bite; however, he is killed when the Blackdeath suddenly rises to its feet and somersaults forward, crushing him with its massive bulk. Dybo has studied natural Blackdeath behavior prior to the battle, and has come up with a strategy. He positions himself carefully, with the sun setting behind him. As the Blackdeath prepares to attack, Dybo bites off its own arms, reducing them to stumps, and mimics the dinosaur's roar. In profile, Dybo resembles a juvenile T. Rex, and the Blackdeath retreats, refusing to accept a challenge from what it perceives as a lesser male. Dybo is declared the winner, and has earned the right to rule. In the aftermath of the battle, Dybo sets about cleaning up the mess the challenge has caused. The Bloodpriests are reinstated. The Imperial Bloodpriest is found, but he has been injured; before he dies, he reveals that Dybo was in fact the weakest of the Imperial hatchlings; however, the switch was not pulled as an attempt to control the Royal family. It is revealed that because the Bloodpriests had been saving only the strongest offspring, that the Quintaglios had become too aggressive; the Bloodpriests were performing a breeding experiment with the Royal family, to try to usher in a less violent generation. With the Imperial Bloodpriest now dead, he needs a replacement; Afsan suggests that Toroca be appointed as his replacement. With Toroca's theory of evolution, Afsan presumes that he would be the best person for the job. Dybo concurs, and assigns him to the task. Meanwhile, Wab-Novato has finished construction on a prototype glider, based on bird remains recovered from the giant blue structure. The test flight of the machine is a success; the Quintaglios have taken their first step towards flight. Studies on the giant blue artifact have made it apparent that is an alien starship, and that these beings brought dinosaurs and other creatures to this world from another, millions of years ago; explaining why species in the Quintaglios' fossil record appear suddenly rather than gradually. The book ends with Dybo declaring that the Quintaglios are not merely going to the stars; they are going home. 

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John Wyatt (John Wayne) is a government agent sent to smash a counterfeiting operation near the Mexican border. Joining Doc Carter's (Earle Hodgins) medicine show, they arrive in the town where Curly Joe (Yakima Canutt), who once framed Carter, resides. Learning that Curly Joe is the counterfeiter, Wyatt goes after the man himself. 

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Buster plays a farmhand who competes with Joe Roberts to win the love of the farmer's daughter (Sybil Seely). Running from a dog (played by Luke, Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's real-life pet) that he believes is rabid, Buster races around brick walls, jumps through windows, and falls into a hay thresher, which rips off most of his clothes. He is forced to borrow the clothes of a scarecrow in a nearby field. Buster then trips into a kneeling position while tying his shoes, and Sybil believes he is proposing marriage to her. Next the couple speeds off on a motorcycle with Joe and the farmer (played by Buster's father, Joe) in hot pursuit. Scooping up a minister during the chase, they are married on the speeding motorcycle and splash into a stream at the climax of the ceremony and the film. 

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Buster plays a down on his luck young man who decides to commit suicide after losing his job and his girl. After several inept attempts to end his life – and bolstered by whiskey disguised as poison – he joins an expedition to capture an armadillo. Buster finds himself becoming more confident through a series of adventures (such as fishing and fox hunting) as the film proceeds. The confidence becomes his undoing as he misses the pool in a dive from a high board and hits the ground on the far side with such force that he disappears into a hole. Some years later, an Asian-garbed Buster climbs out of the hole in the now dry and deserted pool followed by a Chinese wife and two young children. 

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Prabhakar (Jiiva) is a Tamil teacher in a private school in west Mambalam area of Chennai, who leads a lonely life in a lodge. He is frustrated and even tries to commit suicide, in a system where knowing your mother tongue and teaching it is looked down upon by a society craving for material benefits and imbalance in pay structure. The narration is mostly in a series of flashbacks. Prabhakar, for no fault of his, is at the receiving end, terrorized by cops and on the run after killing a railway booking clerk in a fit of rage. He roams all around the country and joins some saadhus, high on pot and also grows his hair long and keeps a shaggy beard. Finally he wants to exorcise the devils within and at gun point kidnaps a television anchor Yuvaan-Suang(Karunas), who records his life story, in which he confesses to killing 22 people in cold blood. In the flashback he reveals his past, his upbringing by a Tamil teacher Poobaal (Azhagam Perumal) and his childhood sweetheart Anandhi (Anjali) who later in his life becomes an obsession for him. The love between Prabhakar and Anandhi is shown in flashes when Prabhakar is narrating his story to Yuvaan-Suang. Prabhakar, the kid lives in a village. He develops a friendship with the neighboring girl, Anandhi. Anandhi's family relocates to another place after a few years after which Prabhakar's childhood is marred by tragic events as he loses his mother and grandparents in an accident. His father, a soldier, admits him in a boarding school and leaves. There he bonds with Poobal after some initial mischief. Slowly, Prabhakar starts looking upon Poobal as his father. Years roll by and Prabhakar grows into a young man who develops an interest in Tamizh, his favourite teacher's subject. After completing his 12th grade, Prabhakar hears about the death of his beloved teacher Poobal, in an accident and travels to have one last look at him. There he sees Anandhi, his childhood sweetheart, whose father has also died in the same accident, in an argument with another family for having one look at her father's body. Prabhakar enters into a fistfight and ensures that justice is done. This incident nurtures the love between Prabhakar and Anandhi. They meet regularly thence. Prabhakar joins college where his preference for taking up Tamil is ridiculed by his roommate and few others. Anandhi's mother does not object to her daughter's love for Prabhakar as she sees him as a source of financial support. At one point, she sells his motorcycle for her expenses. Prabhakar does not mind it. After a few years, Anandhi and her mother are forced to relocate to Anandhi's uncle's house in north India due to monetary difficulties. Prabhakar initially loses contact with her but traces her back to her uncle's home. Somehow, Anandhi finds Prabhakar and they share a poignant moment in her uncle's home where Prabhakar asks about her health to which Anandhi asks about the time of his departure. Prabhakar buys some clothes for her and leaves her promising that he will keep in touch. After few mail communications, Prabhakar again loses contact with her. Meanwhile, Prabhakar gets a job as a Tamizh teacher and starts living in a lodge. He manages with a meager salary and loses focus in his personal life. On one night, he intimidates a call center employee who flees after failing to recite the Tamil verses which a drunken Prabhakar gives to him. It is after this incident that the encounter with a police inspector happens where they arrest Prabhakar for smoking in public. Prabhakar is released and he tries to commit suicide, albeit unsuccessfully. The police again get hold of him and try to book him on false charges. Prabhakar manages to escape and then unintentionally kills the railway clerk. Later, at one point in his life, Prabhakar comes in contact with Anandhi who has turned into a prostitute. He rescues her from the pimps after holding them at gun point. He plans to leave the city to his hometown along with Anandhi. He leaves her at a women's hostel after which the encounter with the television anchor happens. The police get wind of Prabhakar and try to catch him in his hometown. Both Prabhakar and Anandhi hold hands and run towards an oncoming train committing suicide at the same place where Prabhakar's dog died during his childhood. 

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While giving a private performance for a visiting monarch, concert pianist Montgomery Royle is deafened when a bomb is detonated in an attempt to assassinate the foreign ruler. With his career over as a result of his injury, Royle returns to New York City with his sister Florence, close friend Mildred Miller, and considerably younger fiancée Grace Blair. After abandoning thoughts of suicide, Montgomery discovers he can lip read, and he spends his days observing people in Central Park from his apartment window. As he learns of people's problems, he tries to help them anonymously. He becomes absorbed in his game of "playing God" but his actions are without sincerity. One day Montgomery witnesses a conversation between Grace and Harold Van Adam, during which she tells the young man she loves him but cannot leave Montgomery because of his handicap. Moved by the generosity of her sacrifice, Montgomery confronts her and ends their engagement, allowing her to follow her heart. Montgomery continues to act as a philanthropist, but his attitude is changed and his motives become altruistic. He draws closer to Mildred, who always has loved him, and the two find happiness in their developing relationship. 

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Freevill is deeply involved with the "Dutch Courtesan" Franceschina but he is about to marry Beatrice, daughter of Sir Hubert Subboys and decides to break with Franceschina. He introduces her to his friend Malheureux who at once desires her. Humiliated, she promises to submit to him if he kills Freevill and bring her a ring he has received from Beatrice. The two friends pretend to quarrel, Freevill vanishes, the ring is brought to Franceschina. She goes off to inform Freevill's father and Beatrice's father of what has happened. Malheureux is arrested and condemned to die. At the last moment, Freevill appears and explains he has done this to cure Malheureux of his passion. Franceschina is whipped and imprisoned.http://hompi.sogang.ac.kr/anthony/17cdrama.htm 

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Tommy Fawkes is the son of British comedy legend George Fawkes. After his own Las Vegas comedy act flops with his beloved father in the audience, Tommy returns to Blackpool, where he spent the summers of his childhood. Disguised with a new identity, Tommy intends to seek out unique performers and purchase their acts. During this time, Tommy encounters his father's old comedy partners, Bruno and Thomas Parker. Once great performers, they now work as ghouls on a ghost train at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Circus. Bruno's son Jack is a brilliant comic, but psychologically troubled. He has also been manipulated by a corrupt policeman known as Sharkey into stealing valuable wax eggs from smugglers. Tommy meets Jack's mother Katie, and even though Tommy is in disguise, she suspects that he is somehow connected to the family. Tommy eventually realises that his father stole his original act from the Parker brothers. He then reveals himself to be Tommy Fawkes and Katie tells him that Jack is his half-brother. Tommy phones his father about the revelation and George gets on the next plane to Blackpool. As part of their reconciliation, George arranges for the Parkers to top the bill at a Blackpool Tower Circus event. However, Jack is still hounded by Sharkey and cannot perform. During an elaborate Egyptian act, Katie gets rid of Sharkey via a sarcophagus, which is then kidnapped by the smugglers. The wax eggs (Chinese inscription on egg is read "Eight Immortals") contained a mystical, ancient Chinese rejuvenating powder. Jack had previously placed the powder within a makeup tin, which Bruno and Thomas accidentally use, helping them to perform brilliantly. Toward the end of the show, Jack is seen being chased by a policeman and climbing a giant flexible pole to escape. The pole rocks side to side and Jack spins around on the flexing pole, and smacks the climbing policeman in the face. The policeman begins to fall and is revealed to be Tommy. In the last moments, Jack clasps Tommy's hand and saves him, both now wildly swinging around at the end of pole. The circus audience claps wildly with relief. Jack yells to Tommy, "I think they're beginning to like you." Jack laughs and Tommy, suddenly no longer afraid, waves at the audience spinning past and laughs joyfully. 

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Jerry Logan (Jerry Lewis) is a Las Vegas police officer who is visiting France to see his ex-wife (Charlotte de Turckheim), with whom he is still friendly. She is remarried to Laurent Martin (Michel Blanc), who is a police officer in France. The two men do not hit it off very well at first, but eventually they team up to solve the case of some art smugglers. 

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Clovis Blaireau (Jerry Lewis) is a private detective who is hired to spy on the cheating husband (Philippe Clair) by his wife (Marthe Villalonga). Although Clovis fails to gain any evidence that he is cheating, he does wind up becoming friends with the husband. The two new friends get involved with mobsters and they flee to Tunisia. Once there they are mistaken for mobsters, themselves, and get mixed up in a fast-food empire war. Eventually they straighten everything out and open a restaurant together, a combination American Fast Food and Oriental Slow Food establishment. 

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Admiral McKee (Tom Skerritt) is retired, when following the events of 9/11 he receives a call from the White House informing him that his commander in chief requires him to serve his country once again. Shortly after this he is sworn into office as a senior member of the Office of Homeland Security under Tom Ridge. Once in office Admiral McKee faces the challenge of organizing this new office so as to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States. With this in mind Admiral McKee's wife, Elise Mckee, recommends he speaks to his friend, NSA Agent Sol Binder. Following a meeting with Sol Binder, Mckee recruits him into the Office of Homeland Security. After which Binder comes up with a plan for the new agency, all law enforcement agencies within the United States will have to put their rivalry aside and funnel all intelligence into the Office of Homeland Security. We first meet Agent Binder at the beginning of the film prior to the events of 9/11, where he is meeting with a group of NSA Agents with intelligence on a planned terrorist attack that is to take place in the United States where the number Nine and Eleven keep popping up, it is not until the day of the attacks that Binder was able to piece it together. It is Binder's belief that had there been a co-operative organisation such as the Office of Homeland Security the attacks could have been averted. While the main concern of the film is the establishment of the Office of Homeland Security, which following Congress' approval would become the Department of Homeland Security, there are a number of subplots, out of chronological sequence, involved in the film. Such sub plots are, the invasion of Afghanistan, use of precision-guided air strikes with weapons such as GPS- guided JDAMs, the customs agent on the Canadian border stopping the vehicle carrying explosives for the failed Millennium bombing, the pursuit of Osama Bin Laden and the destruction of Al'Qaeda training camps in the middle east, as well as in the beginning of the film. Admiral Mckees' Daughter, Melissa, is due to leave New Jersey for San Francisco on September 11, 2001, she was due to board United Airlines Flight 93, following hearing an announcement on the news that United Airlines Flight 93 was hijacked and has gone down over Pennsylvania, the Admiral and his wife were distraught, shortly thereafter she contacted her parents and was upset and told them she was late and fortunately had missed her flight. That is not all Melissa saw that day. After the Pentagon was attacked, military command had received the executive order to investigate various aircraft that were off course, including Melissa's later flight, and to shoot down any that failed to comply with visual command. In a fictionalThe fictionalized events were probably inspired by fighter jets from Ohio and Michigan being called to intercept Delta flight 1989, which was not a hijacked aircraft. Ohio and Michigan are also fairly close to Chicago Illinois, so the forced landing at Chicago O'Hare Airport, versus the actual landing in Cleveland Ohio, was easily fictionalized. From the wording of the report, it is not clear if the fighter jets went "weapons hot" on the flight, or nearly so, and may not have. 9/11 Commission Report, page 27-28, 44th and 45th pages of PDF document. http://www.9-11commission.gov/report/911Report.pdf engagement, three military jets engage the airliner, setting off the near collision alarm, one positioning itself in front of the airliner, another to the left. The nervous jet pilot behind the airliner nearly shoots it down before the airliner pilots comply with visual commandInterceptor rocks wings in a gentle roll back and forth up and down on each side, in which case the intercepted aircraft should also rock wings and then follow the interceptor. and respond. The jet pilot is ordered to stand down, take a deep breath, and escort the airliner to O'Hare Airport in Chicago, where Melissa first vigorously demands to know if they had almost been shot down. From a pay phone, Melissa called her parents and her boyfriend. Melissa demands from her mother, "Who is doing this to us?" 

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Bharath (Sathyaraj) and his wife Vaishnavi (Roja) live in Western America with their children Subash and Sindu. Riots break out in the part of America where Bharath and his family live, during which their daughter Sindu dies in a bomb blast. After Sindu's death, Vaishnavi falls ill, so Bharath decides to shift to Chennai along with his family. Even after going to Chennai, Bharath and his family are not living happily because Bharath's friend Jack (K. M. Rajendra) is torturing Bharath's family by blackmailing Vaishnavi. The flashback in the movie reveals why Jack threatens Vaishnavi. 

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The story is set in an alternate universe, taking place after the "Voodoo Wars", a conflict between humans and the "Others". The Others mainly consist of vampires, werewolves, and demons, though the main conflict occurs between humans and vampires. As a result of this war, "bad spots", or places where black magic thrives, have appeared more frequently. Rae "Sunshine" Seddon, the pastry- making heroine of the novel, has the misfortune of being caught off-guard at her family's old lake side cabin and is abducted by a gang of vampires. She is confined to the ballroom of an abandoned mansion with Constantine, a vampire shackled there by vampires of a rival gang, led by Constantine's enemy Bo. Bo's intention is to allow Constantine to slowly die of hunger and exposure to sunlight. Rae is brought as bait for him, and the vampires cut her upper chest as temptation. However, Rae not only manages to defy the supposed power that any vampire has over a human, but also uses her all-but-forgotten magical powers of transmutation, taught to her by her grandmother, to effect an escape. Rae realizes that the magical lineage she has ignored allows her to draw power from the sunlight, ergo transferring her ability through touch to Constantine and allowing him to be under the light of day, so long as contact is maintained. Through this symbiotic relationship, the two of them make an escape. Despite her best efforts, all does not return to normality once Rae is back home. Her friends and family are shocked by her survival of an encounter with vampires, and over time she both starts to become more affected by the trauma and refuses to tell anyone the circumstances leading to her alliance with a vampire. As it becomes clear that the conflict with Bo and his gang is only beginning, Sunshine begins to embrace her magical ability, is coerced into working with the "Special Other Forces", wonders what kind of tentative partnership can exist between two individuals whose races are bitter enemies, and, finally, works with Constantine to overthrow Bo for good. 

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Maureen Lipman played Sheila Haddon, whose husband had died 18 months before the start of the first series. He died without any insurance, so on top of her grief she has to pay off the mortgage of her house (No 20). To do this, rather than ask for help, she decides to take in young lodgers. Monica, her twenty-year-old student daughter, is asked to help. She brings back her fellow art student Carol, a doctor called Henry, as well as Chris, Hamish, Candy and Frankie. Sheila also gets many part-time jobs, while her old friend Richard Beamish proposes marriage to her. 

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In a number of episodes Conan, now in his mid to late twenties, is followed from the end of his career as a mercenary soldier for King Yildiz of Turan to his initial adventures in the black kingdoms of Kush. In between, he visits his native Cimmeria and the far north. Soon, Conan journeys southward where, in Argos, he gets his first taste of life as a sea rover as the right-hand man of the pirate queen Bêlit. Chronologically, the eight short stories collected as Conan of Cimmeria fall between Conan and Conan the Freebooter. 

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The game takes in a land know simply as the continent and tells the story of Geralt of Rivia, a witcher – a genetically enhanced human with special powers trained to slay monsters. The Witcher contains three different paths, which affect the game's storyline. These paths are: alliance with the Scoia'tael, a guerrilla freedom-fighting group of Elves and other non-humans; alliance with the Order of the Flaming Rose, whose knights protect the country of Temeria; or alliance with neither group to maintain "witcher neutrality." In the game's opening cutscene, Geralt is tasked with curing Temeria's King Foltest's daughter, Princess Adda, of a curse that transforms her into a feral monster. Years later, a group of witchers find an amnesiac Geralt unconscious in a field and take him to the witcher stronghold of Kaer Morhen. As he struggles to recall his memories, the castle is attacked by a gang of bandits named the Salamandra. The witchers and sorceress Triss Merigold battle the invaders, but the mage Azar Javed and the assassin Professor escape with the mutagenic potions that genetically alter the witchers. The witchers head off in different directions to find information on the Salamandra. Geralt looking over Vizima's dilapidated cemetery Geralt heads south to Vizima, capital of Temeria and where Foltest reigns. On the outskirts, he meets a magically gifted child called Alvin and learns that Vizima is in quarantine. To obtain a pass, Geralt defeats a hellhound plaguing the outskirts, but is arrested upon trying to enter Vizima. Geralt volunteers to kill a monster in the sewers in exchange for his freedom from jail and emerges in Vizima's Temple Quarter. With the help of a private investigator, Geralt pursues multiple leads on the Salamandra and witnesses rising tensions between the Order of the Flaming Rose and the Scoia'tael. After a confrontation with Azar Javed and the Professor, Geralt is knocked unconscious and saved by Triss, who invites him to a party of high-standing officials in Vizima's Trade Quarter. There, Geralt meets Princess Adda and gains several new leads on Salamandra's business front. As the Order and the Scoia'tael grow bolder in their efforts, Geralt finds out more about Alvin's powers and visions while taking down Salamandra drug operations. Geralt finally assaults a Salamandra base in Vizima with the help of either the Order or the Scoia'tael and kills the Professor, but finds himself surrounded by royal guards after escaping. Adda, who has been forging royal edicts in Foltest's absence, declares that she must kill him to conceal her treachery before Triss teleports him to a village on the other side of Vizima Lake. Geralt and his friend Dandelion find some unsteady peace while taking care of Alvin. Eventually, however, the conflict between the Order and the Scoia'tael threatens the village, forcing Geralt to finally pick a side or make enemies of both factions. The scared Alvin mysteriously disappears in a flash, and Geralt and Dandelion decide to sail back to Vizima to end Salamandra. Foltest finally returns and retakes control of his castle, but at the same time civil war has broken out. The Scoia'tael have caused an uprising, and the Order of the Flaming Rose has responded by killing non-humans with little concern. Depending on which side Geralt took in the previous battle, he must either help the knights or the elves in the battle or assist nurses in a field hospital. He also deals with Adda, who has suffered from a relapse of her curse, after which the grateful king discloses clues about Azar Javed's location. Storming the main Salamandra base with his allies, Geralt finally kills the evil mage, but is shocked to learn that the Grand Master of the Order of the Flaming Rose is the mastermind behind Salamandra's mutation program. With most Knights of the Order and their mutants now entering open rebellion, the king again turns to Geralt with a contract to kill the Grand Master. Upon being confronted, the Grand Master tries to persuade Geralt of his "greater plan" to save humanity from prophecies of world-consuming ice. The skeptical Geralt is cast into an icy wasteland illusion by the Grand Master, who bears striking similarities to Alvin. Geralt successfully defeats him and is then approached by the King of the Wild Hunt in specter form. The specter warns Geralt of the impending events or fights him and disappears, upon which Geralt murders the Grand Master and escapes the illusion. As Geralt eliminated the Grand Master, he notices that he has the same amulet as Alvin which confirms he was Alvin the whole time, he accidentally sends himself back in time due to his Elder Blood years before the events of the game. In the ending cut scene, a man with a witcher's vertical pupils attempts to assassinate Foltest. However, the assassin is thwarted by Geralt, leading directly into The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. 

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Hossein Rezai plays a local stonemason-turned-actor. Outside the set of a film in which he is acting, he makes a marriage proposal to his leading lady, a student named Tahereh, who was orphaned by an earthquake. Because he is poor and illiterate, the girl's family finds his offer insulting; the girl avoids him as a result. She continues evading him even when they are filming, as she seems to have trouble grasping the difference between her role in the film and her real-life self. The fictional couple takes part in what would be the filming of Life, and Nothing More.... The situation complicates further as Hossein still pursues the affections of the young actress while the film goes on. The director learns about this and tries to advise Hossein about what to do. He then illustrates their story and where the conflict began. The girl manages to finish the scene while Hossein woos her and then departs by walking as Hossein runs to follow her. In the final scene, at a great distance, the girl finally gives an answer to Hossein and we are left with him running through a green field and back into the olive grove. The audience is left to wonder what response was given by the girl. 

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The central character and narrator, Wilmet Forsyth, is the thirty-three-year-old wife of a Civil Servant with a comfortable though routine life. She does not need to work and enjoys a life of leisure. When not lunching or shopping she occupies her time, somewhat guiltily, with occasional "good works", particularly at the instigation of Sybil, her slightly eccentric do-gooder mother-in-law. She becomes drawn into the social life of her church, St. Luke's, and there makes a change for the good in the lives of two other characters. One is when the kleptomaniac Wilf Bason has to resign from the Ministry where her husband Rodney works and she arranges for Wilf to become housekeeper at the clergy house. The other is her support for Mary, a ‘mousy’ worshipper, who eventually goes to live for a trial period in a convent. After a church service one day, Wilmet renews acquaintance with her close friend Rowena’s attractive but ne'er-do-well brother, Piers Longridge. She develops a romantic interest in Piers, and begins to believe that he is her secret admirer. What Wilmet fails to realise is that Piers is gay until she becomes aware of his relationship with Keith, a lower-class young man with a Leicester accent. But Keith comes in useful later, helping her to choose furniture after she and Rodney have to find somewhere new to live following Sybil's remarriage, whose house they had shared since their own marriage. The move brings Rodney and Wilmet more together at the same time as troubles are resolved for some of the other characters too. 

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Archie Goodwin sits in for a friend at a charity dinner dance for unwed mothers, and one of the guests drops dead on the dance floor. 

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Bryony Ashley has the gift of telepathy and is able to communicate subliminally with a man she regards as her lover, but whose identity she is unsure of. She knows that he is a blood relative, and assumes him to be one of her three male second cousins, twins Emory and James, and the younger Francis. Bryony returns to the UK having received a telepathic message and discovers that her father has been hit by a car, and has died after speaking some mysterious phrases. She remains puzzled about the identity of her telepathic contact. Her initial preference is for James, but she gradually realises that the twins are plotting to steal her inheritance, and are willing to murder for it. She learns also that her secret lover is a long-standing friend to whom she had not known she was related, the man-of-all-work around Ashley Court, Rob Granger, whom Bryony grew up with. Bryony gradually solves her father's puzzles, some of which involve a maze depicted on the family's arms, the motto being "Touch not the cat". In the book's climax, when they learn that she has married Rob, the twins try to murder Bryony and flood the property so they can sell it for redevelopment. She is saved by Rob, with whom she plans to emigrate, and Francis belatedly shows up, the implication being that he will take over the care of Ashley Court. 

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Solomon Joseph (Prithviraj) is the sub inspector of Police in charge of Rajakkadu station in Idukki. He has learned the importance of money and power and using his power he earns wads of money. He spends the money on booze and women. He is estranged with his father and step family. He is close with catholic priest (Rajan P. Dev) who is a father figure to him. Two influential businessmen, Ummachan (Devan) and Vavachan (Vijayaraghavan), clashes frequently in Rajakkadu. Solomon is friendly with Vavachan and even assist him in smuggling narcotics through his area of control. Through a series of e events Solomon lock horns with Ummachan's younger brother Denis. Denis along with 4 friends are visiting from Bangalore. Eventually Solomon takes Denis and his friends in custody after a violent clash in the town club. Ummachan manages to arrange bail for his brother and friends, but during the process he threatens Solomon. Next day, when Solomon gets information that Dennis and friends have hired a local prostitute (Priyanka), he catches them in the act, with the intention of humiliating Ummachan along with getting as much bribe as possible for himself. Ummachan is aiming to be the next candidate for the Legislative Assembly and he fears such an incident would mar his political future. He pleads Solomon to let his brother go. But Solomon would not budge unless he is bribed 'properly'. They agree on a bribe of 3 lakhs to be delivered personally to Solomon. Ummachan tries to implicate Solomon in bribery charges. Solomon sniffs out the plan from Ummachan's nervous behavior and arrests Ummachan on charges for trying to bribe a public official. The brothers are soon released on bail. Dennis attacks Solomon that night assisted by his friends. Solomon beats up the entire gang single handedly and takes Denis to police station. The beating continues and hours of beating up takes its toll and Dennis dies. Solomon with the help of the constable Chandikkunju (Augustine) dispose of the body. He appears to getaway with murder when he just gets a punishment transfer to northern corner of Kerala. Ummachan threatens leaving Solomon. He takes charge of Badiyadka police station. The area is de facto ruled by Abubaker Haji (Captain Raju), a wealthy smuggler and son Shereef (Anand). Haji made all his fortune by cheating his wealthy mentor Valiyaveetil Baputi. Baputi's wife and his daughter Nadia is facing eviction from their home because of Baputi's debts of 12 lakhs. Haji refuses to help them. Shereef tries to molest Nadia and she files a complaint with new Sub Inspector. Solomon befriends Abubaker Haji and takes his side in exchange of bribe. This leads to a public clash between Solomon and Nadia. Solomon plots with Shereef's henchman Syed (Anil Murali) to publicly humiliate Nadia by arresting her in charge of prostitution. This leads to the death of a heart broken Nadia's mother. This was unexpected and for the first time in his life, Solomon's conscience is dented. On the night of funeral, Shareef tries to rape Nadia and Solomon saves her. Chandikkunju turns up at Bathiyadukka and begs Solomon to give him 5 lakhs rupees for his daughter's marriage as Ummachan has created financial difficulties for him. Ummachan is chasing Chandikkunju for information on Denis' remains. Solomon visits Haji's office for financial assistance but received by Shereef, who refuses to pay Solomon anything because of the grudge he keeps. In return, Solomon hijacks Haji's bootlegging truck with cargo estimated to be of 15 million rupees and takes 2.5 million rupees instead of the half million he asked earlier. Haji though appears to be amicable while giving the bribe, arranges Shereef and gang to attack Solomon. He gets near fatal injuries, but survives in hospital. Ummachan visits Solomon in hospital threatening to settle the scores once he fully recovers. Ummachan also hints that he has killed Chandikkunju who refused to disclose information on Denis' remains. When Solomon gets discharged, he is repentant of his corrupt life. He falls in love with Nadia and wants to marry her. He reconciles with his family, but its too late for his father as he passes away before Solomom arrives. The day previous to their marriage, Ummachan with the help of Haji and Shareef, kidnaps Nadia and uses her as a bait to Solomon to take his revenge on his lost brother's life. Vavachan arrives to help Solomon and save Nadia. The film ends with Ummachan killed by Solomon. 

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Blue van Meer is a film-obsessed, erudite teenager. She is the daughter of itinerant and arrogant academic Gareth van Meer, who, after the death of his amateur lepidopteran-catching wife (and Blue's mother), never manages to stay at a college for more than a semester. During Blue's senior year, however, they settle in the sleepy town of Stockton, North Carolina. She starts to attend the St. Gallway School and befriends a group of popular, rich, and mysterious teenagers called the Bluebloods. The Bluebloods are also close friends with the film-studies teacher at St. Gallway, Hannah Schneider, a perplexing woman, who intrigues Blue. After Schneider dies, seemingly by suicide, Blue is left to determine why. 

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Young teenagers Jake and Marco leave the mall one evening. On the way out, they meet Rachel and Cassie, who are together, and Tobias—all children from their school—and decide to walk home together. While taking a shortcut through an abandoned construction site, an alien spacecraft lands nearby. The badly injured alien pilot, an Andalite named Prince Elfangor, emerges from the ship and explains to the children that the Earth is being invaded in secret by a race of aliens called the Yeerks, a slug-like parasitic species who infest humans through their ear canals and take complete control of the human's body, turning them into what is called a Controller. The human controllers are still self-aware but the Yeerk in their head has complete control over their body and what they say. Elfangor tells them that more Andalites will not come to Earth for a year or more, and by then, Earth will already be completely taken over. To combat the Yeerks, he gives the humans morphing ability: the power to become any creature they touch by absorbing the creature's DNA. Elfangor warns them to never stay beyond two hours in a morph, or they will be trapped in that form forever. The Yeerks, led by Visser Three, arrive to kill Elfangor and eliminate all traces of him and his ship. The humans hide and watch, but are discovered and chased by the Yeerks. The group escapes shaken, but more or less unhurt. The next morning, Tobias visits Jake and informs him that the previous night was not just a dream; he had already morphed into his pet cat. The five kids meet at Cassie's farm, where a police officer arrives and informs them that a group of teenagers were sighted setting off fireworks in the abandoned construction site the previous night. He asks if they know anything about it, and the five of them realize that the police officer is a Controller. Later that day, Jake's older brother Tom expresses a similar interest in the teenagers at the construction site and presses Jake for information. Marco realizes—much to Jake's anger—that Tom is also a Controller. Tom invites Jake and Marco to a meeting of a local community club called The Sharing, which the teens quickly determine is a front for the Yeerks to acquire new hosts. They also discover that their assistant principal Mr. Chapman is the leader of The Sharing and a human-Controller. The next day, Jake morphs into a green anole lizard to spy on Chapman, and discovers that there is an entrance to the Yeerk Pool—a large, underground control center where the Yeerks can feed and recuperate—in their school. The teenagers, newly christened as Animorphs (from animal morphers) by Marco, head to The Gardens, a large zoo and amusement park, to acquire some new, battle-capable morphs. That evening, they decide to infiltrate the Yeerk Pool in order to rescue Tom, but find that Cassie has been kidnapped by the policeman-Controller. With no time to plan a strategy, the four remaining Animorphs head into the Yeerk Pool. They manage to rescue Cassie, but find themselves outnumbered and outgunned by Visser Three and his Yeerks. Jake, Rachel, Marco, and Cassie barely escape along with a woman who is free. During the escape, the policeman-Controller is killed. Tobias is able to escape later, but has stayed in morph too long and gets stuck in morph as a red-tailed hawk. The Animorphs fail to rescue Tom, and Jake promises to keep fighting the Yeerks until the Andalites arrive. 

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In the year 2999, Earth is under siege by aliens from the planet Drakkon. Using time travel technology, they have sent armies to four periods in human history, with the intention of altering history to make humankind easier to conquer in the present. The player assumes control of the "Time Lord", who has until January 1, 3000 AD to vanquish the enemy in the past, or else, he will self-destruct along with the time machine. 

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In these stories from Conan's late thirties, the Cimmerian becomes involved in the civil wars of a lost city, a contest over treasure in the black kingdoms, and the border wars between the kingdom of Aquilonia and the savage Picts in the wilderness to the west. Chronologically, the three short stories collected as Conan the Warrior fall between Conan the Buccaneer and Conan the Usurper. 

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The story is told from the point of view of Yassa Povey, a young boy living in the Cursed Earth, a radioactive desert in post- nuclear war America where the whole story takes place. Yassa discovers the body of a man with appalling injuries caused by acid burns, leaving him so badly disfigured that he effectively has no face left. At first believing the man to be dead, Yassa is startled when the man regains consciousness, and he runs home to get help. The townsfolk collect the injured man and take him back with them, fully expecting him to die during the night, but he survives. When he has finally recovered enough to talk, it transpires that the mental trauma caused by his injuries has caused him to lose his memory, and he has no idea of who he is. Therefore Yassa nicknames him "Dead Man", and for want of a better alternative the name sticks. Once the Dead Man has finished recuperating, he resolves to set out on his own and retrace his steps in an effort to find out who he was. Yassa's father gives him a rifle and some clothes: a brown overcoat and a wide-brimmed hat, giving him the appearance of a character from a Western. The Dead Man sets out alone, but is followed by Yassa and his dog. When the Dead Man discovers Yassa, he forbids him to accompany him any further due to the exceptionally dangerous terrain they will be passing through, but Yassa disobeys and the Dead Man gives up trying to stop him. The rest of the story tells of their hazardous journey through the Cursed Earth, during which they are attacked by various hostile inhabitants. Throughout the story the Dead Man is plagued by enigmatic nightmares and half- memories of the circumstances of his near-fatal injuries. During a kidnap attempt by mutants seeking food, it is established that the Dead Man is highly proficient with the rifle, and at tracking. During their journey they not only encounter the usual Cursed Earth mutants, but also are occasionally visited by a strange, supernatural presence: a woman dressed in black. At first beautiful, she later transforms into a terrifying monster before disappearing. Eventually the pair reach a river of acid, where the Dead Man finds traces of the clothing he was wearing when Yassa first found him. His memory slowly begins to return as he recalls running through the river, pursued by an unseen foe, and then losing his footing and falling into the acid. Soon after they reach a small town called Crowley, where they both sense the presence of some great evil and Yassa's dog refuses to go any further. Entering the town, they find the whole place has been burned down, and the streets littered with corpses. There are no survivors. The Dead Man discovers more artefacts which belonged to him and which help to jog his memory: a wrecked motorbike, an irreparably damaged handgun, and pieces of an old uniform, including a badge. As the memory of his identity finally returns, the Dead Man shows Yassa the name on the badge: Dredd. The Dead Man recalls that he resigned from the Justice Department and took the Long Walk into the Cursed Earth, leaving Mega- City One behind for ever. After one hundred days of bringing law to the lawless outside the city walls, he reached Crowley, where he was attacked by the Sisters of Death, who incinerated everyone, chased him into the acid river and left him for dead. At the very moment of this revelation, the two Sisters of Death - Nausea and Phobia - manifest themselves in their hideous true forms, and burn Yassa's eyeballs out of his skull. They try to kill Dredd, but this time Dredd realises what he did not understand before: the Sisters are not physically present, but are only psionic projections, illusions which can only harm him if he believes they can. By refusing to believe they can hurt him, Dredd survives their assault, but Yassa is too terrified to heed his warning and is therefore blinded. Once the Sisters have vanished, Dredd takes Yassa back home, where he is denounced by Yassa's mother for allowing her son to be exposed to such peril. Dredd is remorseful, realising too late that he should have done more to stop Yassa from following him in the first place. However he must travel to Mega-City One to investigate what is happening there, since if the evil Dark Judges have returned then the whole city is at risk. Left behind, Yassa struggles to cope not only with his blindness, but also with the nightmares about that fateful encounter which wake him screaming every night. Unable to forget that terrible day, he becomes envious of the Dead Man's loss of memory, wishing that he could forget too. 

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In an attempt to return Abernathy to his former human self, court wizard Questor Thews inadvertently sends the canine court scribe, along with Ben Holiday's royal medallion, to Earth. Specifically, Abernathy ends up with the medallion in the menagerie of Michel Ard Rhi, a cruel former prince of Landover who was banished from Landover years ago. Ard Rhi is now a Washington state millionaire who keeps a collection of rare and magical items in his personal castle. As part of the botched spell, Abernathy is exchanged for one of Ard Rhi's magical artifacts, and a strange bottle appears in Landover in Abernathy's place. The bottle contains a Darkling, a creature similar to an evil genie that corrupts its master. The bottle is stolen by the G'home Gnomes Filip and Sot, and Ben gives chase along with Questor, Willow, and Bunion. Ben and Willow later decide to use Questor's magic to travel to Earth to find Abernathy. With the help of Miles, Ben's old law partner, and Elizabeth, the daughter of one of Ard Rhi's employees, Abernathy is rescued. However, Ard Rhi uses his influence to have the party detained at a police station. Meanwhile, Questor continues to pursue the Darkling. He finds that through a series of thefts, the bottle has ended up in the hands of the evil witch Nightshade. Knowing that only the High Lord can defeat Nightshade, Questor decides to try to convince the dragon Strabo to fly him through the fairy mists to Earth. Using an itch spell, Questor gets the dragon to agree. They arrive at the last moment to rescue Ben and his friends from the police station and fly them back to Landover, but not before Questor uses his magic to restore Ard Rhi's conscience and convince him to give away his vast estate. Ben and Questor confront Nightshade, and Ben uses his medallion to summon his knight champion, the Paladin. Nightshade, however, uses the Darkling to conjure a perverse version of the Paladin, and the creations give battle. Questor, meanwhile, manages to shrink himself and act as a stopper in the Darkling's bottle, cutting off the source of its power. The Darkling is destroyed, Nightshade flees, and order is restored to Landover. 

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Prisoner of Time follows Strat's younger sister, Devonny, as she accidentally slips one hundred years into the future, to Annie Lockwood's time, and begins to fall in love with Annie's younger brother. This happens at both an inopportune, and an opportune time, as she was about to marry a young man whom she does not love. Devonny is an independent minded young woman with her own ideas for business ventures. However, in a time when the role of women are to stay at home and please their husbands, Devonny soon finds herself engaged to Lord Hugh-David, a British noble she does not love nor respect. With the family's business and reputation hanging in the balance, Devonny agrees to marry the noble, despite how she knows he is an avoidant person and she will be dominated by her mother-in-law. In the meantime, Devonny tries to help her friend Flossie, who has fallen in love with an Italian construction worker and wants to elope. In the present, Tod Lockwood, Annie's brother, tries to find his own place in the world. With failed business enterprises and difficulty living up to Annie, Tod finds confidence only when he is coaching a girls' soccer team. In the past, Devonny despairs at her circumstances, with the disappearance of her brother Strat and the death of her friend Harriet, hoping that at least Flossie will find happiness. She discovers at the wedding that her father was blackmailed into ensuring Devonny would marry nobility and that the blackmailer was Aurelia Stratton, Devonny's mother who has been incarcerated and driven to desperation to ensure her own escape. Devonny calls out to Time for help, in hopes that Strat or Annie will come to save her. Instead, she arrives in the present and meets Tod. In the modern age, she is able to find strength within herself that the women of Todd's age possess that embolden her to take action regarding her own future once she returns. Meanwhile, Hugh-David learns to stand up for himself when he begins to search for Devonny and comes to love her after learning what kind of woman she truly is. When Devonny returns at last, she finds the circumstances now favour her to choose her own path for the future. 

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Rusty, played by Shawn Hatosy, and Dallas, played by Caan, are best friends, in their mid-20s. Their main source of income is collecting small debts for a local crime boss, Bear (played by Heavy D). Rusty's mother, played by Kelly Lynch, is constantly bailing them out of jail, stitching their cuts, and trying desperately to get them to change their ways, but can't seem to break them out of this destructive pattern. Desperate to help her son, she persuades Rusty to begin sessions with the therapist she is dating, Bob (Jeff Goldblum). Around the same time that Rusty is making up his mind to go back to Texas to compete in rodeos, Dallas is presented the opportunity to be the driver for "Rubin the Roofer", where there is supposedly $50,000 to be had, of which he will get $20,000. But he has to put $1,000 up front for Rubin, to ensure he doesn't get scared and flee. In the search to collect the $1,000, Dallas attempts to borrow $300 from Christian (played by Val Lauren), one of the men they collect money from for Bear. Christian refuses to loan Dallas the money, so Dallas offers to rob Bear with Christian, telling Christian he knows for a fact that there is $150,000 to be had, as long as he gives him the $300. Christian ends up overhearing Dallas tell Rusty that he won't go through with the plan with Christian, but will still do the job with Rubin. Christian follows Dallas and Rubin on their robbery job, and it turns out that they are robbing Bear. After Rubin goes inside, Dallas decides to go after him to get the proper share of the $150,000. They end up getting killed trying to rob Bear. In the end, Rusty goes to Texas, and rodeos like he wanted to. On the bus ride to Texas, Rusty sees a sign that reads "Dallas 362", the title of the film. 

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Eight years after the Change, Clan Mackenzie, led by Juniper Mackenzie, and the Bearkillers, headed by Mike Havel, have established themselves in the Willamette Valley. They have become bitter enemies of the much larger, expansion-minded Portland Protective Association (PPA), led by the Armingers. The barons of the PPA constantly violate a ceasefire with the other factions. During one of their raids, Eddie Liu, Baron and Marchwarden of the PPA, is confronted by a small group of Mackenzies, led by Eilir Mackenzie and Astrid Larsson. After a short skirmish, Liu leaves, again swearing revenge against the Clan. In the meantime, in Great Britain, Sir Nigel Loring is imprisoned by the mad King Charles III, but is rescued by his son Alleyne Loring and John Hordle, formerly of the Special Air Service. They leave England aboard a Tasmanian sailing ship, which is conducting a worldwide survey. On their arrival in Portland, Arminger pressures Sir Nigel, who is the closest thing to an expert on nerve gas, to help him recover some of it to use against his enemies. The British trio outwit Arminger and escape to the south. Mike Havel and his wife Signe Larsson Havel try to lure Crusher Bailey, a bandit who has been raiding and taking slaves, into a trap by masquerading as travelers with a herd of horses and a wagon of valuables. When Bailey takes the bait, Mike and Signe's reinforcements are delayed and they have to retreat to the ruins of an abandoned pornographic video store. Just before they are overrun, they are saved by the timely intervention of the Lorings and Hordle. Sir Nigel and his son meet the Mackenzies and their old friend Sam Aylward, who was formerly a sergeant under Sir Nigel. The Mackenzies tell of their raid, where they ambushed a horse-drawn train and unexpectedly captured Norman Arminger's only child and heir, Mathilda. Soon after, Eddie Liu and his massive bodyguard Mack arrive on a diplomatic mission to negotiate Mathilda's release. Astrid Larsson and Eilir Mackenzie and their small band of Rangers discover signs of a PPA group hiding nearby. Liu fires nerve gas at the guards, killing all of them, and frees Mathilda. Despite the danger, Liu searches Rudi Mackenzie's tent for a book that Mathilda gave Rudi, which contains the key needed to decode PPA plans that have fallen into Clan hands. A fight breaks out. Mack seriously wounds Rudi before he is killed by Hordle, and Liu is killed by Eilir Mackenzie. The Bearkillers arrive soon after and mop up the remaining PPA knights. Rudi is saved by Signe, who overcomes her distaste for him and saves his life with an immediate blood transfusion. The book ends with Rudi's initiation into Wicca. 

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LAPD cop Larry Freeman is given the task of 'baby-sitting' a B-movie film festival as a way of easing himself back into work after the death of his son, but things soon turn violent when a right-wing Christian group targets ex-porn actress Madeline Witherson. As Larry investigates the attacks on Maddy and the disappearance of an oceanic survey vessel it becomes clear that certain parties are not content to wait for the Apocalypse. 

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Copper, a bloodhound crossbred, was once the favorite among his Master's pack of hunting dogs in a rural country area. However, he now feels threatened by Chief, a younger, faster Black and Tan Coonhound. Copper hates Chief, who is taking Copper's place as pack leader. During a bear hunt, Chief protects the Master when the bear turns on him, while Copper is too afraid of the bear to confront him. The Master ignores Copper to heap praise on Chief and Copper's hatred and jealousy grow. Tod is a red fox kit, raised as a pet by one of the human hunters who killed his mother and litter mates. Tod initially enjoys his life, but when he reaches sexual maturity he returns to the wild. During his first year, he begins establishing his territory, and learns evasion techniques from being hunted by local farm dogs. One day, he comes across the Master's house and discovers that his presence sends the chained pack of dogs into a frustrated frenzy. He begins to delight in taunting them, until one day when Chief breaks his chain and chases him. The Master sees the dog escape and follows with Copper. As Chief skillfully trails the fox, Tod flees along a railroad track while a train is approaching, waiting to jump to safety until the last minute. Chief is killed by the train. With Chief buried and Master crying over a dead dog he trains Copper to ignore all foxes except for Tod. Over the span of the two animals' lives, man and dog hunt the fox, the Master using over a dozen hunting techniques in his quest for revenge. With each hunt, both dog and fox learn new tricks and methods to outsmart each other, Tod always escaping in the end. Tod mates with an older, experienced vixen who gives birth to a litter of kits. Before they are grown, the Master finds the den and gasses the kits to death. That winter, the Master sets out leg hold traps, which Tod carefully learns how to spring, but the vixen is caught and killed. In January, Tod takes a new mate, with whom he has another litter of kits. The Master uses a "still hunting" technique, in which he sits very quietly in the wood while playing a rabbit call to draw out the foxes. With this method, he kills the kits; then by using the sound of a wounded fox kit, he is also able to draw out and kill Tod's mate. As the years pass, the rural area gives way to a more urbanized setting. New buildings and highways spring up, more housing developments are built, and the farmers are pushed out. Though much of the wildlife has left and hunting grows increasingly difficult, Tod stays because it is his home range. The other foxes that remain become unhealthy scavengers, and their natures change--life-bonds with their mates are replaced by promiscuity, couples going their separate ways once the mating act is over. The Master has lost most of his own land, and the only dog he owns now is Copper. Each winter they still hunt Tod, and in an odd way he looks forward to it as the only aspect of his old life that remains. The Master spends most of his time drinking alcohol, and people begin trying to convince him to move into a nursing home, where no dogs are allowed. One summer, an outbreak of rabies spreads through the fox population. After one infected fox attacks a group of human children, the same people approach the Master and ask his help in killing the foxes. He uses traps and poison to try to kill as many foxes as possible; however, the poison also kills domestic animals. After a human child dies from eating it, the humans remove all of the poison, then the Master organizes a hunt in which large numbers of people line up and walk straight into the woods, flushing out foxes to be shot. The aging Tod escapes all three events, as well as an attempt at coursing him with greyhounds. One morning, after Tod's escape from the greyhounds, the Master sends Copper on the hunt. After he picks up the fox's trail, Copper relentlessly pursues him throughout the day and into the next morning. Tod finally drops dead of exhaustion, and Copper collapses on top of him, close to death himself. The Master nurses Copper back to health, and both enjoy their new popularity, but after a few months the excitement over Copper's accomplishment dies down. The Master is left alone again, and returns to drinking. He is once again asked to consider living in a nursing home, and this time he agrees. Crying, he takes his shotgun from the wall, leads Copper outside, and pets him gently before ordering him to lie down. He covers the dog's eyes as Copper licks his hand trustingly. 

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The story centers on Mona Lisa Figg Newton, a teenage girl living in the fictional town of Pineapple with her eccentric family, including: her tap dancing mother, Sister Figg Newton; her uncles, Truman the Human Pretzel, Romulus the Walking Book of Knowledge, Remus the Talking Adding Machine, and Kadota with his Nine Performing Kanines; and her cousin Fido the Second. The only family member Mona gets along with is her uncle Florence, a book dealer. A main concern of the characters is Capri, the Figg family heaven, which involves a ritual passed down through the Figg family for generations. Uncle Florence's greatest wish is to find his Capri. Mona's greatest fear is that her uncle will succeed and leave her alone. One of the novel's unusual characteristics is its interactive status. The opening pages classify it as a "mysterious romance or a romantic mystery," but the book never mentions the mystery again. Rather, to unravel the truth about some of the novel's most mysterious happenings, readers must follow the trail of literature, history and music that Florence leaves behind him, by investigating the writings of Joseph Conrad, William Blake and Gilbert and Sullivan. While the book can be read on its own as a surrealistic journey, solving the mystery leads to greater insight in to the truth about Florence. 

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The Stooges are detectives in the Old West. They have been sent out to recover an IOU from Double Deal Decker (Fred Kohler), a ruthless killer who plans to take possession of a ranch that is rightfully owned by Nell (Dorothy Kent). After an unsuccessful attempt at a saloon, the Stooges head to Decker's hideout, where they find an IOU, and Curly manages to defeat the killers. 

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Parents Mortimer "Mo" Folchart (Brendan Fraser) and his wife Teresa "Resa" Folchart (Sienna Guillory) read the fairy tale "Little Red Riding Hood" to their baby daughter Meggie, as a red velvet hood appears out of nowhere. Twelve years later, Meggie (Eliza Bennett) visits an old book shop in Europe with her father, unaware that he is secretly looking for a copy of the book Inkheart. Shortly after Mo finds the book, Meggie encounters a horned marten outside the shop; it tries to bite her fingers. A man (Paul Bettany) suddenly appears from the shadows, claiming to be an old friend. Mo comes out of the shop, recognizing the man as Dustfinger, who quickly asks him to "read him back into the book". Mo flees with Meggie. Mo takes Meggie to visit her great-aunt Elinor (Helen Mirren) in Italy. There he tells Meggie that nine years ago, reading to her from Inkheart, he inadvertently freed Dustfinger, a fire dancer, due to a gift he possessed from birth. Unfortunately, the book's villain, Capricorn (Andy Serkis), and one of his henchmen, Basta (Jamie Foreman), were also freed. Fleeing with his infant daughter, Mo realizes Resa has been taken into the book. Dustfinger arrives with Basta, who captures the group, destroys Elinor's library and takes Inkheart. They are taken to Capricorn's new castle in the real world. During their imprisonment, Mo explains his gift to Meggie and Elinor, stating that when he reads a person or an object out of a book, someone from the real world is sent into it, hence his wife's disappearance. Capricorn forces Mo to use his gift, acquiring treasure from one of the stories in The Arabian Nights, and imprisoning Farid (Rafi Gavron), one of the 40 Thieves. Dustfinger, who was promised a return into the book, is betrayed by Capricorn. Nevertheless, the group escapes using the tornado from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Elinor leaves to recover what is left of her library as the other head for Alassio, the town of Inkhearts author, Fenoglio (named in honor of Italian writer Beppe Fenoglio), who may have another copy, following Meggie's proposal. Dustfinger is initially afraid of learning his fate in the book, but later joins them. When they meet Fenoglio (Jim Broadbent), the author's ecstatic reaction to seeing his creation alive leads Dustfinger to learn he dies at the end, trying to save his marten, Gwin. Angry, he berates Fenoglio before eventually telling Mo that Resa is trapped in the castle and has lost her voice. Mo and Dustfinger take Fenoglio's car; Farid stows away in the trunk. At Fenoglio's house, Meggie begins reading out loud, bringing Toto from The Wizard of Oz. Basta bursts in with his men and takes the group to Capricorn. Elinor, having decided to stay, realizes something is amiss and pursues them. At the castle, Capricorn orders Meggie to bring the Inkhearts monster, Shadow, threatening to harm her mother if she does not comply. Mo sneaks into the castle. Dustfinger is captured, but escapes after Meggie informs him of Capricorn's intentions. Mo attempts to free Meggie and others, as Capricorn forces her to bring the Shadow. Dustfinger returns to the castle with Farid, setting it alight. The distraction allows Fenoglio to give Toto a rewrite he made to help Meggie stop Capricorn's plan. As Elinor arrives with the creatures Capricorn imprisoned, Meggie writes out the story on her arm. As she reads out her creation, Capricorn turns into ashes as the Shadow devours him, his henchmen vanish, the Shadow explodes, and all the read-out creatures back are returned where they belong, including Toto. In addition, she grants Fenoglio's wish to live in the world he created, while reuniting her and Mo with her mother and restoring her voice. Dustfinger is also safely read back into Inkheart, where he is reunited with his wife Roxanne. In the real world, Farid reveals he kept Gwin with him, thus allowing Dustfinger to avoid his fate and have control over his destiny. As Mo and his family leave with Farid, Meggie agrees to teach him how to read while Farid agrees to teach her how to use the dragon breath, the fire breathing ability of Dustfinger's which Farid learned. 

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Quark has come into possession of an infant shapeshifting Changeling and sells it to Odo, a former Changeling who has been stripped of his shapeshifting abilities. Odo begins trying to teach his "child" to shapeshift; he is displeased when Dr. Mora, the Bajoran scientist who "raised" Odo, arrives to help. Dr. Mora and Odo immediately clash over how to best raise the Changeling. Odo, still angry at the invasive methods Dr. Mora employed with him, hopes to reach the infant through encouragement. Mora insists on probing and measuring the creature, to Odo's disgust. Unfortunately, Odo makes little progress using his own methods. Under pressure from Starfleet, Odo has no choice but to resort to Mora's methods. Using Dr. Mora's equipment, Odo employs electric shocks to prod the changeling into holding several basic forms. Both are both amazed when the creature imitates the shape of Odo's face. The moment brings Odo and Mora together — especially when Mora admits to Odo that his caring seems to have helped him form a connection with the baby. Mora's support helps Odo to finally forgive Mora for treating him more as a specimen than as a person. He invites Dr. Mora to celebrate their success with a glass of champagne. But the happy mood is shattered when Odo receives word that the little creature is dying. Dr. Bashir is unable to save the "child". Odo holds the dying creature in his hands, and, as it dies, the infant changeling merges into Odo and restores his shapeshifting abilities. Meanwhile, Major Kira goes into labor, and gives birth as a surrogate mother to Keiko and Miles O'Brien's baby. At the end of the episode, Kira tells Odo about explains her feelings of loss, after turning over the baby has to his parents. Odo tells her he knows how she feels, and the two go for a walk together. 

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Sisko encounters Michael Eddington, his former Starfleet Security Chief, who betrayed him and joined the Maquis. Obsessed with capturing the traitor, Sisko pursues him in the Defiant. But when Sisko gives the order to fire, the Defiant experiences a massive computer failure — caused by Eddington. He leaves Sisko angry and humiliated, and facing a long trip home. The Defiant is towed back to Deep Space Nine by the starship Malinche, and Chief O'Brien begins the massive job of bringing the ship back on-line. Adding insult to injury, Sisko learns that Captain Sanders of the Malinche has been given the assignment to apprehend Eddington, since Starfleet has lost faith in Sisko's ability to do the job. But when he learns that Eddington is attacking Cardassian colonies with a weapon that renders planets uninhabitable to Cardassians, the Malinche is to far away to intercept him. Sisko sees his chance, and although the Defiant is not yet fully repaired, he and his crew take the ship back into space. The ship lurches out of the station and soon encounters Eddington again. Eddington taunts Sisko by sending him a copy of the novel Les Misérables and comparing Sisko to the obsessive policeman Javert. The captain realizes too late that he was baited to false coordinates. As the crew sets off to find Eddington's real location, a distress call is received from the Malinche — Maquis forces ambushed and disabled the starship. Sisko determines Eddington's next planetary target, but is too late to stop him from releasing his weapon into the atmosphere. The Defiant chases after Eddington's fleeing ship, but Eddington cripples a transport vessel evacuating Cardassian civilians, forcing Sisko to break off his pursuit and rescue the helpless Cardassians. Stumped as to how he is going to get Eddington, Sisko realizes that the renegade sees himself as a noble hero and Sisko as a villain. In order to stop Eddington, Sisko decides he must do something truly villainous. He prepares to poison the atmosphere of a Maquis colony in retaliation, and reveals his sinister plan to all. Eddington is prepared to call his bluff. Sisko orders the deadly torpedoes launched, and the Maquis scramble to evacuate. Sisko says that he is prepared to eliminate every Maquis colony in the DMZ, and Eddington, realizing Sisko is serious, makes the "heroic" gesture of offering himself in exchange. Eddington is captured, and Sisko's vendetta is finally over. 

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Ghemor arrives at Deep Space Nine, having left Cardassia after his activities as a dissident became known. Kira hopes he will be the face of the resistance against the Dominion-controlled puppet government of Cardassia, but he tells her that he is dying. He wishes to participate in a Cardassian tradition in which a dying person reveals their secrets to the rest of the family for use against their enemies. He chooses Kira to interview him, since he regards her as family. Captain Sisko (Avery Brooks) encourages her to participate, as Ghemor's information could greatly aid the Federation and Bajor. Kira is hesitant at first, remembering the injuries that her father suffered at the Cardassians' hands during the occupation of Bajor. However, she agrees to hear Ghemor's secrets and use them for good. Gul Dukat (Marc Alaimo), the head of Cardassia's Dominion government, requests Ghemor's extradition to Cardassia, but Sisko brusquely rejects him. Refusing to take no for an answer, Dukat and Weyoun visit the station, intent on taking Ghemor with them. Dukat first offers to reunite Ghemor with his real daughter, then gives Kira information that incriminates Ghemor in a massacre at a Bajoran monastery. Finally he delivers a bottle of poisoned liquor to Ghemor's quarters, but Sisko intercepts it. Kira becomes furious at Ghemor and spends as little time caring for him as possible. However, she later learns from Odo that Ghemor was only nineteen at the time of the massacre, an inexperienced foot soldier. Kira recalls that when her own father was badly injured, she chose to participate in a counterattack rather than stay with him, and missed his death by minutes. Realizing that she is letting her own past bitterness taint her relationship with Ghemor, she returns to his bedside and stays until he dies. Dukat intends to tell the public that Ghemor praised the Dominion with his last words and wants to have the body returned to Cardassia for a military funeral. Sisko rejects the request and allows Kira to bury Ghemor on Bajor. 

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Three months after the events of "Call to Arms", the Federation-Klingon alliance is badly losing the Dominion War. After hearing news that the Seventh Fleet was almost obliterated, Captain Sisko and his crew are assigned to pilot a captured Dominion ship into Dominion/Cardassian territory and destroy a valuable stockpile of Ketracel White, the drug that controls the Dominion's Jem'Hadar foot soldiers. The navigational eyepieces used on the stolen Dominion vessel induce headaches in Captain Sisko. Cardassian ex-spy Elim Garak, a guest of Sisko's crew, observes that the eyepieces seem to have no ill-effects on Cardassians, so he volunteers to wear the device. Later, Sisko's ship is fired upon by the USS Centaur, unaware that Sisko's ship is staffed by fellow Federation officers, and Sisko is forced to return fire. Both ships escape but the danger is not over yet: the Starfleet officers are now deep behind enemy lines. They succeed in destroying the Ketracel White depot, but the ship's engines are damaged in the explosion; without the use of warp drive, they are many years' journey from home. Meanwhile, on Dominion- occupied DS9, friction arises between Dukat and Weyoun. Dukat is optimistic about how well the way is going for the Dominion-Cardassian alliance; but he has not yet been able to disable the minefield blocking passage to the Dominion's home territory in the Gamma Quadrant, and Weyoun reminds him they are vulnerable without reinforcement and resupply. Major Kira Nerys is uncomfortably reminded of the Cardassians' 50-year occupation of Bajor, but Quark points out that the Dominion's occupation of DS9 is at least less brutal, and the Dominion is holding the Cardassians in check. Sisko's son Jake is on DS9 as a reporter for the Federation News Service, but Weyoun claims his articles are biased against the Dominion, and refuses to broadcast them until he sees "open-mindedness". Dukat refuses to employ Bajoran security deputies, to the frustration of security chief Odo. Major Kira convinces Odo to use his status as a Changeling, a member of the species that rules the Dominion, to get what he wants. Genetically programmed to see him as a god, Weyoun instantly accepts Odo's request to reinstate his deputies. Odo is also offered a seat on the station's ruling council, giving him a voice in station policy. He accepts. 

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Captain Benjamin Sisko decides to retake Deep Space Nine in order to bolster sagging Federation morale. He plans a large force in order to do so but it will take some time to assemble. The Klingon general Martok and his first officer Worf are sent to convince the Klingon High Council to send ships to join the attack. On Deep Space Nine, the Ferengi technician Rom is sentenced to execution for attempting to foil the Dominion's plan to destroy the minefield blocking the wormhole. The minefield is the only thing keeping Dominion reinforcements from arriving from the Gamma Quadrant. Major Kira Nerys, the Bajoran liaison officer secretly leading the resistance against Dominion occupation, pleads for mercy for Rom with Weyoun, the station's Dominion administrator, but to no avail. Kira persuades Tora Ziyal, the daughter of Cardassian commander Dukat, to ask her father to show mercy, but he too is adamant. Security officer Odo is no help; he is seduced by an offer to return to his people, the shapeshifting Founders of the Dominion, and has lost interest in station affairs. Cardassian officer Damar lets slip to the bartender Quark that the minefield will be eliminated in about a week. Quark passes this intelligence to Kira's resistance; and Sisko's son Jake, who remained on the station when the Dominion seized control of it, is able to sneak a message to his father alerting him of the minefield's impending destruction. Sisko realizes he must take the station now, though his fleet is nowhere near large enough. With a fleet consisting of 600 vessels, Sisko arrives near Deep Space Nine facing a Cardassian-Dominion fleet of 1254 ships. He turns to his crew and says "There's an old saying: 'Fortune favors the bold'. I guess we're about to find out." as the operation begins. 

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The episode starts with teen pop sensation Hannah Montana -- who is actually Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) -- and her father Robby Ray Stewart (Billy Ray Cyrus) singing the song "This Is The Life" in preparation for a sold out concert in Los Angeles the next day. After she reluctantly gives her older brother Jackson (Jason Earles) two tickets for him and a girl he is trying to ask out to the concert, Miley's best friend, Lilly (Emily Osment), who is unaware of her dual identity and a big fan of Hannah, calls to announce that she is "incoming in 20 seconds". Miley takes her Hannah wig off and puts a blue jacket over her Hannah clothes. Lilly enters on a skateboard and says she has two tickets for herself and Miley to the concert. As Miley is Hannah, she has to decline, and to protect her secret, she says she wants to spend quality time with her brother (hoping Lilly will believe her). Lilly tries to force her to come but Miley doesn't agree. Miley's other best friend, Oliver Oken (Mitchel Musso) has a crush on Hannah Montana (before he knew she was Miley) and somewhat stalks her. Before the episode ended, Lilly finds out Miley is Hannah and keeps her secret. It is in the following episode, "Miley Get Your Gum," that we learn Hannah Montana has already been around for 2 years when we are first introduced to her. Oliver says, "Well there goes 2 years of my life," when Miley shows that she's really Hannah Montana. 

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The USS Defiant is sent on a mission to investigate a subspace anomaly, which could yield significant technological advances for the Federation. Jadzia Dax (Terry Farrell), Miles O'Brien (Colm Meaney) and Julian Bashir (Alexander Siddig) take the runabout USS Rubicon into the anomaly in order to take readings, tethered to the Defiant by a tractor beam. As a side- effect of entering the anomaly, the entire runabout is shrunk to only several centimeters high, but the crew expects to return to normal once they exit. However, during the procedure, the Defiant is fired upon by a Jem'Hadar attack ship, disabled, and boarded by Jem'Hadar soldiers. The tractor beam is disconnected, leaving the runabout in the anomaly where the Jem'Hadar cannot detect it. Aboard the Defiant, the Jem'Hadar discover that the engines are damaged. The Jem'Hadar First Kudak'Etan (Scott Thompson Baker) celebrates victory, declaring that the new generation of Jem'Hadar born in the Alpha Quadrant are superior to those in the Gamma Quadrant. He overrules his Gamma- born Second Ixtana'Rax (Fritz Sperberg), despite his status as an "honored elder" and greater experience. Kudak'Etan reports in to his Vorta superior, Gelnon (Leland Crooke), who orders him to prioritize repairs to the Defiant warp drive and get underway to the nearest Dominion outpost, while the Jem'Hadar ship departs for another mission. Meanwhile, the Rubicon escapes the anomaly and sets course for the Defiant, unaware that they have not returned to their previous size, as their sensors are offline. Discovering their predicament and unable to communicate with the Defiant, the runabout decides to enter the ship through a plasma vent. Meanwhile, Kudak'Etan has Benjamin Sisko (Avery Brooks) brought to the bridge and demands that he help the repair efforts on the warp drive. Sisko claims he needs his crew to do so, and Kudak'Etan grants his request over Ixtana'Rax's objections. On the way to the engine room, Ixtana'Rax threatens Sisko, and reveals the dissent between the Alpha and Gamma Jem'Hadar. Meanwhile, after narrowly avoiding being destroyed when the impulse engines are restarted, the Rubicon makes its way into the engine room and discovers the Jem'Hadar takeover. The Rubicon crew observe the Starfleet crew members in engineering, and realize their plan - Sisko has Kira (Nana Visitor) conduct repairs, though slowly to stall for time, while Sisko, Worf (Michael Dorn) and Nog (Aron Eisenberg) are attempting to regain control of the ship. O'Brien observes that Nog is attempting to override the ship's security codes, and suggests that they take the Rubicon to the bridge to assist them. When Kudak'Etan enters, Sisko complains about Ixtana'Rax's interference, driving an additional wedge between the two. As the Jem'Hadar departs, the Rubicon follows him through the door. Sisko realizes they need an alternate plan if they are unable to regain control of the ship, and instructs Worf to plant a virus which will destroy the ship when it enters warp. Meanwhile, the Rubicon sneaks onto the bridge, where O'Brien and Bashir beam into a computer node to manually bypass the command codes. Despite O'Brien's initial disorientation, they manage to reroute the circuitry. At the same time in engineering, Nog believes he has cracked the codes but Ixtana'Rax orders the Defiant crew away from the computer consoles, revealing he is aware of the crew's delays, and the warp drive has actually been operational for an hour. Kudak'Etan orders the Starfleet crew locked up, and that the ship make way to the outpost, ignoring Ixtana'Rax's concerns about sabotage. The Rubicon then attacks the Jem'Hadar, and together with Sisko and the crew are able to overcome them. Sisko floods the ship with gas to knock out the remaining Jem'Hadar and orders Kira to disable the virus before the ship is destroyed. After subduing the Jem'Hadar and taking back the ship, the Rubicon re-enters the anomaly and is returned to its normal size. Back at Deep Space Nine, however, Odo (René Auberjonois) and Quark (Armin Shimerman) tease O'Brien and Bashir, wondering if they have returned slightly shorter than when they left, and share a laugh as the two rush to sick bay in a panic. 

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Luthien Bedwyr lives on Isle Bedwydrin, an island where they are bred as soldiers and fight in an arena for pleasure. When Viscount Aubrey, cousin of Duke Morkney of Montfort, visits the island, Luthien's world is turned upside down. After defeating Garth Rogar, a rival in the arena but a friend in life, Luthien is told to kill him by Viscount Aubrey. When he doesn't, one of the Viscount's cyclopian guards kills Garth instead. Luthien swears on his dead mother that he will avenge Garth in front of Katerin O'Hale, his lover. He runs away alone after killing the cyclopian who killed his friend and on the road meets Oliver deBurrows, a highway- halfling who steals from rich merchants that cross his path, and his mutated donkey, Threadbare. Together, Luthien and Oliver cross the Dorsal Sea and go to the mainland, where they are saved from numerous cyclopians by an old wizard named Brind'Amour. In return, he tasks them with finding his staff in a cave. Inside the cave, they find a crimson cape that renders the wearer invisible and a folding bow, and are attacked by the dragon Balthazar. Ultimately, Brind'Amour acquires the staff inside the cave and saves the two bandits from the dragon. The wizard then gives Oliver a "housbreaker" and a magical grapnel. Luthien and Oliver go to Montfort where they commit a dozen thefts. However, the magical cape from the cave casts a crimson shadow that cannot be removed. Seeing the shadow, merchants declare the second coming of the Crimson Shadow, a legendary, ancient thief, though in reality it is actually Luthien. Along the way, Luthien falls for a half-elf slave in the market. He tries to free her from her master but finds that she is also a thief. Later, she is captured by Duke Morkney because she is Luthien's love interest. He goes to free her, and a revolt begins after he fires upon Morkney. He chases the Duke to the top of a giant chapel called the Ministry, where Duke Morkney becomes the demon Praehotec and is ultimately slain by Luthien. In the epilogue, Katerin O'Hale returns from Isle Bedwydrin with news and a gift. She says that Luthien's father Gahris has revolted and that not a single cyclopian lives on Isle Bedwyrdin. He gives the Sword of Bedwyr - Blind Striker - to Luthien, now the Crimson Shadow and the leader of a ragtag insurgency in Montfort that has taken control of half the city. 

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The version which aired February 2006, differs from its premiere on MTV's Spring Break 2005 in March. A girl was to interview five boys, and after a set of about five questions for each person or an activity of some sort, the father will eliminate one of the contestants. This continues until one contestant remained. In the latest version, parents are unhappy with their child's current boyfriend or girlfriend. The parents interview and select prospective partners who vie for the affections of their child. Afterwards, their child goes on a date with the two selections that each parent chose. The child then has to decide whether to keep their current relationship, stay single, or choose one of the new prospects. During each date, the parents and the current partner watch and comment, often antagonistically, as the date unfolds on television. When the dates are finished, the child selects their new partner from amongst the competitors and current partner. First, one of the three is picked to leave before the other two. Then the child chooses between the two remaining potential partners, commenting what they liked from the remaining parent's choice and from their current boyfriend/girlfriend. The whole process often results in unpleasant behavior from the two who were eliminated. Usually, the current boyfriend/girlfriend is selected which angers their parents who had hoped to be rid of their child's significant others. In some occasions, the child chooses their parents' choice of boyfriend/girlfriend, resulting in the significant other to leave angry and make rude comments. In other occasions, the child chooses to stay single, and eliminates the current significant other and the dates that his or her parents orchestrated. In a rare occasion, the child's chosen date would reject them and go with their previous significant other. Another rare occasion had the child's chosen boyfriend/girlfriend break up with them right away, leading the angry parent to chase after them.http://www.mtv.com The show like the other reality shows aired on MTV has been accused of being staged and fake. 

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Sylvester awaits the arrival of a new canary after the previous house bird has mysteriously disappeared (one of several such disappearances, according to stencils the cat keeps on a wall hidden by a curtain, confirmed by his "hiccup" of some yellow feathers). Upon the arrival of the bird, Sylvester pretends to play nice in order to abuse and eventually make a meal of the pretending-to-be-naive canary. A series of violent visual gags ensues in which Tweety physically subdues the threatening cat by smoking him up, hitting him on the foot with a mallet, feeding him some alum and using his uvula as a punching bag. A couple of racial or ethnic gags are included. Sylvester imitates a Scandinavian-sounding maid, who feigns complaining about having to "clean out de bird cage." He reaches into the covered cage and grabs what he thinks is the bird. The canary whistles at him. The confused cat opens his fist to find a small bomb, which promptly explodes, covering the cat in "blackface" makeup. His voice pattern then changes to something sounding like "Rochester", when he utters, "Uh-oh, back to the kitchen, ah smell somethin' burnin'!" just before passing out in the doorway. (This gag is often edited out for television broadcasts.) A more subtle gag occurs when Tweety, inside the cat's mouth, yells down its gullet. The answer comes back, "There's nobody here but us mice!", which is a reference to the Louis Jordan hit "Ain't Nobody Here but Us Chickens" (1946). At the climax, Tweety has managed to trap Sylvester inside the birdcage, and has introduced a "wittle puddy dog" (rhymes with "puppy dog"; a not-so-little "pug dog", an angry bulldog - in his first appearance). Their deadly battle occurs under the wrap the bird has thrown over the cage. The film ends with the lady of the house calling the pet shop again, this time ordering a new cat, while Tweety lounges in Sylvester's old bed. Overhearing the woman telling the pet shop that the cat will have a nice home here, Tweety reveals the silhouette of a cat now stencilled on the wall, and closes the cartoon with a comment to the camera, "Her don't know me very well, do her?" a variant on one of Red Skelton's catchphrases by his "Mean Widdle Kid" character from radio. 

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In these stories from Conan's early thirties, the Cimmerian starts as a leader of an Afghuli tribe in Vendhya, journeys into the Black Kingdoms south of Stygia, and ends up as a Zingaran buccaneer. Chronologically, the four short stories collected as Conan the Adventurer fall between Conan the Wanderer and Conan the Buccaneer. 

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In these stories from Conan's late twenties, the Cimmerian is a mercenary with the Free Company in the city-states of Shem and the lands to the north and east, a war leader of the steppe-raiding Kozaki, and finally a soldier in the service of the kingdom of Khauran. Chronologically, the five short stories collected as Conan the Freebooter fall between Conan of Cimmeria and Conan the Wanderer. 

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Professor Lawrence Mackay (Niven) and his wife Kate (Day) are struggling with four young sons in a tiny two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Months before, they had announced their intention to move to a larger apartment, but have not been able to find one. Meanwhile, their lease has expired and the landlord has rented out their apartment to someone who insists they vacate immediately. They decide to look for a house in the country, but the only thing they can afford is a run-down mansion complete with secret panels and trap doors, 70 miles away by train in fictional Hooton. They have no choice but to move in and start fixing it up. In the midst of the moving chaos, Larry has left his professorship at the university to become a drama critic for a major New York newspaper. His first assignment is to review the new show produced by his best friend, Alfred North (Haydn). The show is awful, and Larry's review is especially hard on the show's star, Deborah Vaughn (Paige), who gets her revenge by hiring a press photographer to capture her slapping Larry's face at Sardi's. This publicity stunt, along with Larry's published response, makes Larry the toast of the town. Kate and Larry are suddenly invited to society parties and hobnobbing with the rich and famous, which begins to go to Larry's head. With the hammering and builders at home, Larry decides to stay in a hotel in the city for a few weeks, leaving Kate to organize the new house. Back home, Kate tries her best to manage the four children and fit into their new community. When asked by the local dramatic society to find them an original play for their next production, Kate turns to Alfred. Alfred, seeing a chance for a bit of revenge of his own, gives them a terrible play written by a young Lawrence Mackay — with an altered title and fictitious playwright listed on the cover. Alfred then secretly invites all of the major New York critics to review the play. Larry finds out and has a huge fight with Kate, blaming her for his professional embarrassment. He refuses to allow the show to go on. Kate insists it is too late for the Hooton Holler Players to get another show ready, so Larry reluctantly allows them to proceed, publishing his own review of the show before opening night. Not to be left out, Deborah Vaughn decides to strike up a close, personal friendship with Larry, flattering him seductively. Kate's mother Suzie Robinson (Byington) urges her to get Larry back before it is too late. Kate and Larry make up and return to their country home in time for one of the boys to drop a water bomb on them from an upstairs window. 

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Story of the Eye consists of several vignettes, centered around the sexual passion existing between the unnamed late adolescent male narrator and Simone, his primary female partner. Within this episodic narrative two secondary figures emerge: Marcelle, a mentally ill sixteen-year-old girl who comes to a sad end, and Lord Edmund, a voyeuristic English émigré aristocrat. Simone and the narrator first consummate their lust on a beach near their home, and involve Marcelle within their activity. The couple are exhibitionists, copulating within Simone's house in full view of her mother. During this second episode, Simone derives pleasure from inserting hard and soft-boiled eggs for her vaginal and anal stimulation; she also experiences considerable enjoyment from the viscosity of various liquids after the shells break. The pair undertake an orgy with other adolescents, which involves some broken glass and involuntary bloodletting, and ends with Marcelle's psychological breakdown. The narrator flees his own parents' home, taking a pistol from the office of his bedridden, senile, and violent father. They view Marcelle within a sanatorium, but fail to break her out. Naked, they flee during night back to Simone's home, and more displays of exhibitionist sex ensue before Simone's widowed mother. Later, they finally break Marcelle out of the institution, but unfortunately, Marcelle is totally insane. Deprived of her therapeutic environment, she hangs herself. The pair have sex below her corpse. After Marcelle's suicide, the two flee to Spain, where they meet Sir Edmund. They witness a Madrid bullfight, which involves the prowess of handsome twenty-year-old matador, El Granero. Initially, El Granero kills the first bull that he encounters and the animal is consequently castrated. Simone then pleasures herself by vaginally inserting these taurine testicles. Unfortunately, El Granero is killed by the next bull that he fights, and his face is mutilated. As the corpse of El Granero is removed from the stadium, his right eye has worked loose from its socket, and is hanging, bloody and distended. Simone, Sir Edmund, and the narrator visit the Catholic Church of San Seville after the day's events. Simone aggressively seduces Don Aminado, a handsome, young, Catholic priest, fellating him while Simone and the narrator have sex. Sir Edmund undertakes a blasphemous parody of the Catholic Eucharist involving desecration of the bread and wine using Don Aminado's urine and semen before Simone strangles Don Aminado to death during his final orgasm. Sir Edmund enucleates one of the dead priests' eyes, and Simone inserts it within her vagina, while she and the narrator have sex. The trio successfully elude apprehension for the murder of Don Aminado, and make their way down Andalusia. Sir Edmund purchases an African-staffed yacht so that they can continue their debaucheries, whereupon the story ends. In a postscript, Bataille reveals that the character of Marcelle may have been partially inspired by his own mother, who suffered from bipolar disorder, while the narrator's father is also modeled after his own unhappy paternal relationship. In an English language edition, Roland Barthes and Susan Sontag provide critical comment on the events. 

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After a letter reflecting on Conan's life written by Howard to P. Schuyler Miller and John D. Clark, both fans of Howard's work, is an essay on the invented prehistory in which the hero's adventures are set tracing its development up to Conan's own time. The stories gathered in this collection then follow the Cimmerian from his escape from slavery in Hyperborea through his days as a youthful thief in Zamora, Corinthia, and Nemedia, to the beginning of his employment as a mercenary for King Yildiz of Turan. To Conan's discomfiture, the supernatural is his constant companion. Chronologically, the seven short stories collected as Conan are the earliest in Lancer's Conan series. The stories collected as Conan of Cimmeria follow. 

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The Animorphs convene and decide that they need to make their next move against the Yeerks. The only lead they have is that Hedrick Chapman, the assistant principal at their school, is a Yeerk Controller. Jake asks Rachel to try to get to him through his daughter Melissa, an old friend of hers. However, Melissa has become distant lately, and Rachel fears she has become a Controller like her father. Rachel remembers Melissa's pet cat Fluffer McKitty, and the Animorphs plan to infiltrate Chapman's house to find out what they can; Rachel morphs Melissa's pet cat to gain access. Once in the house, Rachel follows Mr. Chapman into a basement room and discovers that he communicates directly with Visser Three, the leader of the Earth invasion, through holographic technology. While in the room, she is spotted by Visser Three, who orders Chapman to kill her because she might be an Andalite. Rachel doesn't react, and Chapman reasons with Visser Three to allow Rachel to escape shaken, but unharmed. Before she leaves the house, Rachel follows Melissa and learns that she is not a Controller, but has pulled away from her friends because she believes her parents — now both Controllers — don't love her anymore. Rachel decides to keep the encounter with Visser Three a secret from her friends, and convinces them that she needs to infiltrate Chapman's house again. She does a few nights later, this time with Jake stowed away on her back as a flea. Rachel is careful to stay out of Chapman's and Visser Three's sights, but is again found out. Visser Three is sure now that she is an Andalite bandit, and orders Chapman to bring Rachel to him. He also tells Chapman to bring Melissa so that she can be infested, because she is a security risk to the Yeerks; it was her cat that the "Andalite" used. Chapman rebels against his Yeerk, Iniss 226, causing Iniss to momentarily lose control of the host body and fight to take it back. Iniss is tired by the effort and opts not to take Melissa, planning to explain the circumstances face to face with the Visser. Iniss takes Rachel and Jake, still morphed as a flea, to the abandoned construction site where the Animorphs first met the alien Elfangor, and he allows Chapman himself to speak to Visser Three. Chapman reminds the Visser that he willingly became a Controller on the condition that the Yeerks not take Melissa, and if they were to violate that contract, he would make life as hard as he could for the Yeerk in his head. Since Chapman is in a position of some influence at the school and is regularly meeting with parents, this would be very disastrous, and Visser Three grudgingly gives in. The other Animorphs show up to rescue Jake and Rachel and barely escape from one of Visser Three's monstrous morphs. The next day, Rachel writes an anonymous note to Melissa, telling her that her father loves her more than ever, despite not being able to show it. 

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Gloria decides to run away from home with her gay friend John McFadden. Both of them have a reason to leave: Gloria wants to find her estranged father, and John wants to avoid being drafted and being sent to Vietnam. They head from Belle Woods, a fictional suburb of Detroit, Michigan, to New York City, where they meet a host of colorful characters. The novel explores the personal freedoms of the late 1960s, including casual drug use, draft evasion, homosexuality, and incest. 

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Continuing on immediately from The Answer, Rachel attacks the Yeerks in control of the Blade ship, and kills Tom Berenson and his Yeerk, before being killed at the hands of his Yeerk allies shortly after; before she dies, the Ellimist briefly stops time to tell his own story to her and answer a question about her contribution to the war. As soon as her question is answered, Rachel dies. Tom's morph-capable Yeerks escape in the Blade Ship, abandoning the disabled Pool Ship to the Animorphs. Visser One, realizing that he is defeated, leaves Alloran-Semitur-Corrass's body after being knocked unconscious by Ax. The remaining Animorphs, as well as Alloran (freed after more than two decades under Visser One's control over his body), contact the Andalite fleet, who are primed to annihilate Earth. Ax reveals that the non-military Andalites are listening to their communications and will not approve of the fleet's actions should they proceed. The Andalite fleet calls off their plan to destroy Earth and, after hours of negotiations, they promote Ax to rank of Prince and declare the war for Earth over. In addition, Cassie, at Jake's urging, goes to look for Erek and finds him escaping the Pool ship. She lets him know that they have won the war at last, but promptly tears into him for draining the ship's weapons, which both enabled the Blade ship to get away and caused Rachel's death to be in vain. Erek defends his decision and likewise chastises Cassie for resorting to the tactics that they had used against him. Ultimately, Cassie tells Erek that he and the Chee can decide whether or not they are ready to reveal their presence to the world now that the war is over, and though he says nothing about it, it is clear to her that the Chee are still unwilling to do so. Cassie and Erek part ways, and it is clear to the former that the latter and his people are no longer friends or allies with the Animorphs. The Animorphs attend Rachel's funeral, where a statue is erected in her honor. Tobias, with the permission of Cassie and Naomi, Rachel's mother, flies away with Rachel's ashes to spread them in the sea. It is also revealed that the Animorphs lived in California, a fact that had not been revealed throughout the course of the series. The remainder of the book describes the development of the characters over the course of three years after the war. Jake, Marco, and Cassie become instant celebrities, while Ax returns to the Andalite homeworld a hero. Surrendered Yeerks are allowed to choose an animal form in which to become a nothlit. Arbron's Taxxons are granted their wish and become nothlit anacondas or other big snakes, relocated to the Amazon Rainforest. Unable to morph out of his Taxxon form, Arbron is soon killed by poachers. The free Hork-Bajir colony is moved to Yellowstone National Park, protected by Toby Hamee and Cassie. Toby becomes a non-voting member of the US Senate while Cassie serves as an adviser to the President. Humanity develops an alliance with the Andalites. Some developments between the two races are companies such as Microsoft and Nintendo building new electronics and Andalites morphing into humans to experience the sense of taste. Marco embraces his new fame, and winds up becoming the self-proclaimed "spokesman" for the Animorphs, as well as a TV star. Cassie uses her powers in the government to become an activist for the environment and the Hork-Bajir. Jake, however, adjusts less easily than they do to the new conditions and becomes depressed, having minimal contact with his friends and not morphing at all. A year after the conclusion of the war, Esplin 9466 (formerly Visser Three and later Visser One) is put on trial in The Hague and convicted of crimes against humanity. During Jake's testimony at the trial, Esplin's defense lawyers attempt to discredit Jake by claiming that he himself is a war criminal for his actions, such as his emptying of the Pool ship that killed 17,372 Yeerks. Though this objection is overruled, Jake is deeply shaken by it, as he feels that it, along with many of his actions during the war, was immoral or mistaken. In a bid to cheer Jake up, his friends capture him and dump him into the ocean, thinking that by forcing him into a dolphin morph (dolphins being naturally happy) they can cheer him up. Jake remains aloof, however. Esplin is forced to live out his remaining days without a host in a purple box constructed by the Andalites. Two years after Esplin 9466's sentencing, Ax is charged with finding the Blade Ship. He notes that the Andalite military is being shrunk back, and that he easily has the most interesting assignment. The ship crew finds a mysterious DNA sample, a polar bear. Ax leads the investigation team. As First Officer Menderash-Postill-Fastill later recalls, the ship came alive and attacked. Menderash broke off from the ship, but they were then attacked by pirates. He is the sole survivor. Meanwhile, Jake finally concedes to the government and agrees to train special ops teams to use the morphing power to combat terrorists. After a few months of meetings, two Andalite officials approach Jake, and Menderash relays Ax's story. Jake agrees to help. He informs Marco and Cassie, the latter of whom is spending time assessing potential new places for the Hork-Bajir to inhabit with her new boyfriend Ronnie. Cassie offers to come, but Jake declines, saying that her role is over and that she is doing what she wants to do the most. Jake also believes that Cassie will be happier if she stays on Earth. He asks her to find Tobias, who has since shut himself away from the world (save for monthly visits to his mother, Loren) and remains angry at Jake for Rachel's death. Tobias relents and joins Jake on the mission. Marco agrees to come, as well, but only after yelling at Jake, and telling him that he cannot undo his past mistakes, and that, just as during the war, they will only succeed if they follow his instincts, no matter how "crazy, reckless, and ruthless." Jake selects two of his students (Santorelli and Jeanne Gerard) to join the mission. As the mission is top-secret and unauthorized, Jake and the others conduct a very elaborate plan. Marco knocks out two Andalites who are guarding a shuttle. They use the shuttle to take off and board a captured Yeerk cruiser. They then crash the shuttle into the ground. The official story would be that terrorists overpowered the Andalite guards but could not pilot the ship and crashed. Menderash, following an Andalite tradition, believes it bad luck to board the ship before it is named. After Tobias notes that it is "beautiful and dangerous and exciting," the group gives it the only fitting name, the Rachel. After several months in space, the Animorphs find the Blade Ship, only to discover that Ax has been assimilated into an entity only known as The One, which has given Ax a new mouth that splits open the lower part his face. The One threatens to consume the Animorphs, as it had done to Ax. Jake comments on Marco's earlier call to be "crazy, reckless and ruthless" and, with a smile that Marco notes makes him look like Rachel, orders them to ram the Blade Ship. The series ends with Jake, Marco, Tobias, and Ax's ultimate fates left unknown. 

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Tobias and Rachel liberate a caged red-tailed hawk from a car dealership, Dealin' Dan Hawke's Used Cars, where it is being used as a mascot in advertisements. Later that evening, Tobias sees a shimmer in the air and is perplexed by it. He decides to check it out again the next day, and this time notices a flock of geese seemingly run into an invisible wall in the air. Tobias suspects the anomaly to be a Yeerk ship using optical camouflage and tells the other Animorphs about it. The group morphs into wolves to follow the last known direction of the ship into the mountains. They arrive at a lake guarded by Park Service human-controllers and Hork-Bajir-controllers. The ship decloaks over the lake, revealing itself to be a massive logistics ship that collects water and air for the Yeerk Pool ship in orbit. Tobias also sees the hawk that he and Rachel freed, and has an urge to be with her. The Animorphs return from the mountains and make plans to morph into fish in the lake and get sucked up by the ship so they can disable it from the inside, thus deactivating the cloaking device while it is above a city and revealing the Yeerk invasion to the general public. Tobias heads up to the lake again to scope out potential hiding places, but his hawk instincts overpower him on the way and he kills and eats a rat. Greatly disturbed by the experience, he flies to Rachel's gymnastics exhibition at the mall and tries to commit suicide. He flies around the mall in a panicked state until Marco smashes open a skylight for him with a baseball to escape. Tobias regresses into his hawk instincts for several days, living in the woods and hunting rodents. His human side only re-emerges when he saves a man escaping from Hork-Bajir near the mountain lake. He returns to Rachel to talk about what happened, and he decides that he needs to keep fighting the Yeerks to remain human. The Animorphs revisit the lake and hide in a cave until the Yeerks arrive. They then morph trout, and Tobias carries them to the lake to avoid notice by the Yeerks who have locked down the area. The others are successfully sucked up into the ship, but they discover that the water tank is sealed off inside; they are trapped. They communicate this information to Tobias and ask him to bring the ship down if possible. Meanwhile, Tobias is spotted and identified as an "Andalite bandit." To avoid attacks from Yeerk Bug Fighters and helicopters, he lands on top of the logistics ship, the one place he can be sure the Yeerks won't risk firing. A dozen Taxxons emerge out onto the deck to kill him, but Tobias aims for its eyes. The Taxxon, trying to shield itself, accidentally makes it easier for Tobias to grab its Dracon beam. He fires the beam at the ship's bridge, causing it to fly out of control and crash into the other Yeerk ships (Bug Fighters and USFS helicopters). A large gash is torn in the side of the ship, and the other Animorphs come pouring out with the water that had been collected. They are able to morph into birds and escape. Tobias again sees the female hawk, but the Yeerks, mistaking her for him, kill her. The remains of the downed truck ship are disposed of by the Yeerks, thus leaving no evidence for the Animorphs to show the world. Tobias is distressed over the death of the hawk, but realizes that it is this emotion that makes him human, as a true hawk would not care if another hawk had died. Tobias discusses this with Rachel, and begins to accept his newfound balance between being a hawk and being a human. 

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The film is set in the reign of King Louis XIII. When Comte Châtellerault fails to win the hand in marriage of Roxalanne de Lavedan, despite hinting at leniency for her rebellious family if she accepts, he responds to the notorious womanizer Marquis de Bardelys' mockery by wagering his estate against that of Bardelys that Bardelys cannot succeed in marrying Roxalanne either within three months. While Bardelys does not desire marriage, he feels he has to accept the challenge. However the king, on hearing of the wager, forbids Bardelys from seeking a marriage alliance with a rebel family. Bardelys ignores the king’s orders as he feels that his honour is at stake. On the way to the Lavedan estate, he stumbles upon a fatally wounded man, Lesperon, who asks him to say farewell to his beloved but dies before telling him her name. Bardelys takes his papers and, when challenged by a party of the king’s soldiers, assumes Lesperon’s identity to conceal his own, only to find that Lesperon is a wanted traitor. Bardelys escapes after fighting them off, and wounded, seeks refuge in the Lavedan residence. Roxalanne tends to him and hides him. Meanwhile, Roxalanne and her family discover with anger that she is the subject of a public wager by Bardelys, who prudently retains his assumed identity and grows closer to Roxalanne. They declare their love for one another but she discovers that Lesperon was engaged and, furious at what she thinks are his false protestations of love, denounces Bardelys to soldiers. Bardelys, under the identity of Lesperon, is tried for treason. Châtellerault, who is the head judge, maliciously refuses to confirm his true identity and condemns him to death. Roxalanne, still in love with Bardelys and guilty at causing his imminent death, marries Châtellerault on his promise to remit the sentence, but he breaks his word. Bardelys, on the gallows, delays his execution until the king arrives and saves him. Bardelys goes to Châtellerault and forfeits the wager and his estate so he can propose to Roxalanne with a clear conscience. The two men fight and Bardelys repeatedly wins, when soldiers enter to arrest Châtellerault upon which he kills himself rather than suffer the indignity of a trial. The king enters to laud Bardelys’ skill with women to Roxalanne’s annoyance but she is mollified when the king says that this is the first time Bardelys has sought to marry. 

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A teenage outcast road movie, Jimmy and Judy follows a pair of outsiders who fall in love and out of control as they travel across an American landscape dotted with hypocrisy, materialism, drugs and violence. The film focuses on the classic themes such as adolescent rebellion, love, and anger. Jimmy and Judy are a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde: destructive young lovers who leave the comfort of their suburban community in rural Kentucky in search of a better life. The film is presented in the form of a video diary from the point of view of the main characters. 

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While sneaking into a concert in dog morph, Jake and Marco discover that they are unable to detect a smell from their friend Erek King, something impossible, as all living things smell (Marco describes Erek as a "black hole of smell"). They then realize that he is also a member of The Sharing. When the Animorphs investigate further, they find out that he is really an android with a hologram projected around him, after he is hit by a bus and his hologram fails for a few seconds. Marco finds out from Tom that there is a barbecue for The Sharing going on at a nearby lake, and the Animorphs go there to find out whether Erek is working for the Yeerks. Only certain animals can see through Erek's hologram, so Ax and Marco morph wolf spiders, while the rest of the Animorphs go into their bird morphs (except Jake, who morphs a fly) to act as lookouts. While in morph, Marco and Ax confirm their suspicion that Erek is an android. However, Marco is then grabbed by a bird, who tries to eat him. He is forced to demorph in full view of Erek. Erek projects a hologram around him and from the Controllers. Erek tells Marco to come visit him at his house, and to bring the other Animorphs. After some thought, the Animorphs decide to go. In case it's a trap, they leave Rachel behind, who will morph into grizzly bear and storm the place if Ax thought-speaks a distress call. Once they get there, Erek reveals he is part of an ancient race of androids called the Chee, whose creators, the Pemalites, were destroyed by the Howlers thousands of years ago. The Chee managed to escape to Earth with a few of the last remaining Pemalites (which resembled humanoid canines), and fused their essence with wolves, creating dogs. A few members of the Chee are working against the Yeerks. Erek agreed to "become" a Controller, but in reality he controls his Yeerk. When he goes to the Yeerk Pool, he simply projects a hologram of the Yeerk going in and out of his ear, realizing that the Yeerks have very little ability to communicate while in the pool. The Chee have amazing physical strength, but they have one drawback: their programming means they cannot hurt anyone. Erek tells the Animorphs that they can change their programming with the Pemalite crystal. They find out that the Yeerks are currently in possession of the crystal, and have it in a high security facility. They agree to attempt to retrieve the crystal so the Chee can join the fight. To get it, they decide to sneak in using cockroach and spider morphs. They are chased by a rat and just barely escape being burned by a furnace, but they reach the highly guarded room. They morph into bats to echolocate and avoid the complex wiring that protects the crystal from normal means. However, once Jake has the crystal in his mouth, the Animorphs realize that he can't echolocate out of there. They go into battle morphs and race out, where they are stopped by twenty Hork- Bajir warriors. Marco sees Erek outside the windows looking in, powerless to help them. During the fighting, Marco ends up by the windows. Gasping, he smashes the window and gives the Pemalite crystal to Erek before dying. When Erek delivers an electric shock to Marco's heart and he comes to, Marco realizes that all of the Hork-Bajir are dead, and the Animorphs and Erek are fine, Erek having massacred the Hork-Bajir. Erek says that he has realized why the Pemalites put the pacifist programming in him—as his memory remains perfect, Erek will never be able to move past the memory of the violence that he has committed and will constantly remember it as though it just took place—and changes his programming back to what it was. He says that he can never join the actual fight, but he can pass on information. He gives Marco a phone number for a safe, untappable line so they can communicate. At the end of the book, Homer, Jake's dog, drops the Pemalite crystal into the ocean. 

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Kovai Brothers tells of Ganesh (Sathyaraj) and Vasanth (Sibiraj), who are friends who come to Chennai to take revenge on the killers of Uma, who is Ganesh's niece and Vasanth's girlfriend. The duo stays with Ekadasi (Vadivelu) and then works in a TV channel that exposes corruption in the society. Sanya (Namitha) also works as an anchor in the same channel. Ganesh and Vasanth both see Sanaya and fall for her. Ganesh and Vasanth take on the bad guys and corruption besides falling for the same girl. The rest of the film is on how they kill the rowdies and who wins Sanya's love. 

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The film is about a group of people who win a competition and are taken to London for a free trip. Thus the beginning appears promising. The group includes hero Anand (Navdeep) and heroine Priya (Aparna). But the joyous journey sours when the lead pair which falls in love at the beginning of the holiday. Enters Rishi (Manish), a tourist guide for London. He resolves to separate the lovers and plans to marry Priya. rest is a cat and mouse game between Anand and Rishi and how their love win all problems. There are also two people who separate him. They have already loved but have been separated and so they hate love. They decide to split them up so that they win the competition against Priya and Anand. In the end they tell them the truth and Priya and Anand reunite. 

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Pachchamuthu (R. Parthiban) by his own confession is a ruffian and due to the fear he is able to whip up, he rules over a slum area in Chennai. He is a sadist, a pervert and treats his own mother like a slave worker and swears at her. He is always on the look out to make a fast buck and has no qualms about doing dirty jobs for others; provided he is paid. One day he walks into a marriage pandal and peeps into the female dressing room through a hole. He sees the rich and fair looking bride-to-be Poovu (Namitha) removing her clothes. After seeing her completely nude, intensely aroused by her voluptuous body Pachcha plans to have sex with her one way or the other. He beats up the groom, convinces the people there and eventually marries the poor girl. On returning to his slum with her, his mother and other women although complimenting Poovu on her beauty are shocked to find this to be real. He then takes the girl straight to his bedroom for sex. He throws some ants on her cleavage, bites from which force her to remove all her clothes. He then proceeds to have sex with her. He then tattoos the girl causing pain which arouses Pachcha. He also makes her hold on to a ceiling above ground, making her cling for her safety when she is only wearing a towel. The towel slips slowly exposing and humiliating the girl from which Pachcha gets sexual gratification. He makes Poovu wear transparent Blouses transforming her from a rich higher class woman to a local slum woman. He is comparatively dirty and gets sexual pleasure from the purity and richness of Poovu. After marriage, Poovu turns out to be a woman with a nice heart and sympathizes with the colony people who are terrified of Pachchamuthu. One day Pachcha decides to test the loyalty of the colony people by pretending to be dead. But he is shocked to see the entire people in the place celebrating his death - except his mother. This changes him completely. Pachcha renounces his ways and breaks up the gang of ruthless moneylenders. The villagers celebrate. 

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Sethupathy (Prabhu) and his young brother Sevathayya (Murali) are fond of their only sister Maragadham (Navya Nair) living in Melur village. Vairaghya Bhoopathy (Nassar) is the chief of the neighboring village Aalur and the two families are rival for generations. But Maragadham falls for Nallarasu (Vineeth), brother of Bhoopathy. Then comes Alakalan (Kalabhavan Mani) a schemer who wants to marry Maragadham. Both the brothers humiliate him and send him back. He ends up marrying Bhoopathy's sister Angayarkanni (Roja) but manager to create an enmity between the two families. Meanwhile, dancer (Malavika) falls in love with Sethupathy. Alakalan has an eye on her as well. A turn of events results in Bhoopathy's suicide. Now, Nallarasu takes revenge on Sethupathy who was responsible for his brother's death. So he marries Maragadham only to torture her. The rest of the film is all about how Sethupathy and Sevathayya reveals the true color of Alakalan and as predicted all comes to a happy ending. 

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During the middle years of the war, three men are called up to serve in the British Army. The Englishman Philip Hamilton (Underdown), the American David Morgan (Clanton) and the Irishman Smoke O'Connor (Michael Brennan) are conscripted into the Guards Division and report to their barracks at Caterham, Surrey. After going through strict training (including real Coldstream Guards Regimental Sergeant Major Brittain) they find themselves receiving emergency promotions. Philip and David are promoted to 2nd lieutenant and Smoke to corporal and are attached to a tank company of the Welsh Guards, where Philip and David command their own tank and Smoke is part of David's crew. Months of 'real' training follow, where they learn about tank warfare and also their comrades. The film follows the three main characters as the Guards Armoured Division lands at Normandy weeks after D-Day, and on into action as part of the break-out. Following the crew of a Sherman tank, they cope with different aspects of fighting a war on another continent, such as being separated from family and loved ones and coping with the loss of comrades. Operation Market Garden and the Battle of the Bulge are depicted, but with the Welsh Guards as the pivotal British Army unit. During Market Garden, the Welsh Guards are shown linking up with American paratroopers at the Grave bridge before moving on to Nijmegen and the failure of the operation. The film ends with the Ardennes Offensive and the Guards' unknown operations around the east side of the River Meuse, and only Smoke left alive of the three friends. 

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All in Good Faith was written especially for its lead star, The Good Life actor Richard Briers. The series was his first ITV sitcom. He played the Reverend Philip Lambe who, in his middle age, decides to move from his wealthy Oxfordshire parish to one in Edendale, a fictional urban town in the Midlands. He is determined to do things in his new parish and is faced with new problems like homeless people. He is accompanied by his wife Emma, sixteen-year-old daughter Miranda and twelve-year-old son Peter. 

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Set during World War II, the book follows Alfred Vicary, a historian and friend of Winston Churchill, who was wounded in battle during the World War I while serving as an officer in the Intelligence Corps,Daniel Silva, The Unlikely Spy, Villard, 1996, page 119-120: "Vicary was immediately commissioned as a second lieutenant in the motorcyclist section of the Intelligence Corps". joins the British intelligence service.Daniel Silva, The Unlikely Spy, Villard, 1996, page 78: "Vicary held the rank of a major in the Intelligence Corps". He is assigned the job of protecting Operation Mulberry in the lead up to the invasion of Normandy in 1944. The German spy Catherine Blake, whose real name is Anna von Steiner, an Abwehr operative, actually is close to learning the secret. Catherine's aid is Horst Neumann, a former lieutenant in the paratroopers and later on in the Abwehr, a trained assassin.Daniel Silva, The Unlikely Spy, Villard, 1996, page 177: "He joined the Wehrmacht early in 1939. His physical fitness and lone-wolf attitude brought him to the attention of the Fallschirmjager, the paratroopers. He was sent to paratroop school at Stendhal and jumped into Poland on the first ady of the war. France, Crete, and Russia followed. he had his Knight's Cross by the end of 1942.". Some little failures help Alfred Vicary to reveal her true identity. So he devises and carries out his plan of Double Cross. The basic idea of it is that after uncovering the German spy Catherine Blake, instead of capturing and imprisoning her, the British Intelligence provides her with false documents which she accepts as information she seeks. Then she sends the content of those papers through other spies to Germany, and so the German Spy agencies are being deceived without having the least idea of it. The story ends with depiction of the night Catherine tries to escape from Britain. If she could have fled she would be able to tell all she knew about British Intelligence agents and their Double Cross operation, and maybe Germans would understand that they had been deceived all the time. But Catherine does not manage to escape and is killed by the fire laid down by the British martial ship. The Germans, therefore, remain ignorant of the secret they tried to reveal and this causes their defeat in World War II. 

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Daja and Frostpine expect to have a peaceful winter's visit with old friends in Kugisko, a port in the vast empire of Namorn. But there is no peace when mysterious fires begin to blaze across the vulnerable city. Daja assists Bennat Ladradun, a local firefighter with a tragic past, to fight the flames. The two become fast friends—until they realize the fires have been deliberately set, and their relationship is deeply tested. Daja's magic helps her track down the firestarter, but no magic can protect her or Ben from the effects of madness and betrayal. 

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Oakie Doke was a character who lived in an oak tree. His head was an acorn and an Oak leaf covered his upper body. His skin was a light green and he had distinctive rosy cheeks. He was a friendly character and a well-respected member of the forest. He slides down the slide around his treehouse everyday and his friends includes squirrels, mice, toads, hedgehogs and moles. At the start of the show, one of his friends would ring a bell at the bottom of his tree, which would wake him up. He would then ride a slide that wound round the trunk of the tree to the bottom. The episode then began. On a typical episode, there would be a friend who had an everyday problem in the woods, and Oakie would immediately come to their aid. There was usually a dilemma, but he would help them and was often assisted by his friends from the forest. Many of the problems that arose were a result of the actions of Dave and Denzil who were known to carry actions out without considering the consequences. However, they usually showed some remorse when Oakie later confronted the pair about their behaviour. Towards the end of each episode, after Oakie had helped solve the problem, he would state: "Well, it's like I always say...", followed by a rhyming phrase. This phrase would be in relation to the solution of the problem. This was greeted with approving laughter and applause from whoever was present at the time. 

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The life of Yale law student Sherman (Michael Shulman, Party of Five) takes an unexpected turn when he decides to follow his girlfriend’s (Lacey Chabert, Not Another Teen Movie) advice and take more chances in life. She meant their relationship. But Sherman’s new spontaneity lands him in the car seat next to Palmer (James LeGros, Sleeper Cell, Ally McBeal), a washed-up, cheerfully eccentric former Olympic athlete. Dumped and cut off from his mother’s funds, Sherman has to travel with Palmer to Southern California for an important job opportunity. 

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Bryson was born on December 8, 1951. He spent his childhood growing up in Des Moines, Iowa, part of the baby-boom generation born in the post-war years. He describes his early life and his parents, Bill Sr. and Mary Bryson. His father was a well-known sports writer for The Des Moines Register, the leading newspaper in Des Moines. His mother was also a writer for the Register, she also wrote for magazines like Better Homes and Gardens, Good Housekeeping, and House Beautiful. He recounts many things that were invented during his childhood that fascinated him, which include frozen dinners, atomic toilets, and television. His middle-class, all-American lifestyle is shown constantly throughout the book, and the influence of his depression-era raised parents rubs off on him. He also remembers his adventures as "the Thunderbolt Kid," an alter ego he made up for himself when he felt powerless. He was able to vaporize people with his heat vision and thought that he came from another planet. He tells amusing stories of his misadventures as Billy Bryson, including his first days in school when he figured out that when the entire class was running drills to protect themselves from a bomb, he would simply read comic books instead. However, when the principal and a police officer came in one day to supervise, he got in trouble. Trouble was something fairly common for "the Thunderbolt Kid", as throughout his childhood his teachers were unamused by his activities. In fact, Bryson recounts how he really was uninterested in getting up before noon, thus not even going to school very often. Despite his unique behavior, Bryson tells his story through the eyes of a child, filled with hilarious observations about the world — from "Lumpy" Kowalski's curious nickname to the joy that was to be had in the department stores. Though Bryson focuses mostly on his childhood, he tells of many of the events that were happening at the time, including the development of the atomic bomb, and the beginnings of the civil rights movement. He tells of his first days in junior high and high school, and during both he began smoking, drinking, and stealing, although he didn’t get caught for any of it. He met Stephen Katz in junior high school, when they were both in the school's audio- visual club. Katz would accompany Bryson on many of his travel experiences. At the end of the book, Bryson tells the reader that "life moves on", and that he wishes that the world could be more similar to life in the 1950s and 1960s. The last lines of the book are, "What a wonderful world that would be. What a wonderful world it was. We won’t see its like again, I'm afraid." 

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The action takes place over the course of a year in North Oxford, some time before World War II. Miss Doggett likes to entertain students and young clergy at her gloomy Victorian home in Banbury Road. When the new unmarried curate, Mr. Latimer, comes to lodge at their house, he strikes up a friendship with Miss Doggett's paid companion, the homely Jessie Morrow, through whose eyes much of the action is seen. He begins to see her as a potential wife but she rejects his proposal, knowing that his interest in her is practical rather than romantic. The title of the book refers to a fictional village called Crampton Hodnet, which Mr. Latimer invents as an off-the-cuff excuse when asked where he has been, as he does not wish to admit he has been out for a walk with Miss Morrow instead of attending church. "Crampton" was the author's middle name; an old family name on her father's side. Miss Doggett's nephew, the don Francis Cleveland, a reader at the (fictitious) Randolph College of Oxford University, falls in love with one of his students, Barbara Bird. He contemplates an extramarital affair with Barbara, but two of Miss Doggett's student protégés see them together, and the word soon reaches acquaintances of Francis's wife, Margaret. Francis' daughter, Anthea, is in love with Simon Beddoes, the son of Lady Beddoes, and Miss Doggett is especially keen for the relationship to progress to marriage. After Margaret finds out about Francis's relationship with Barbara, she leaves for a trip to London. Francis offers to take Barbara for a weekend in Paris but they only get as far as Dover, where Barbara gets cold feet and goes to stay with a friend, leaving Francis to return alone to Oxford, where Margaret forgives him. Simon breaks up with Anthea by letter; she soon begins dating again. Mr Latimer becomes engaged while on holiday, and makes preparations to leave his role as curate. As the new academic year dawns, Miss Morrow acknowledges that she will probably remain unmarried and that nothing really ever changes. 

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Set in an unnamed American city, two urban, middle-class couples deal with their unhappy relationships by shamelessly lying and cheating in their quest for happiness. Jerry (Stiller) is a theater instructor who is married to Terri (Keener), a writer who is alienated and unfulfilled with his love-making skills. Jerry and Terri have dinner with Mary (Brenneman), a writer friend of Terri's, and Mary's husband Barry (Eckhart) a business executive who is oblivious to his wife's unhappiness. During dinner, Mary talks about writing for a local newspaper column about bickering couples and their troubles, while Barry does not think that other couple's problems are anyone else's concern. After dinner, Jerry discreetly asks Mary out on a date. Mary, out of frustration, accepts. The next day, Terri, visiting a local art gallery, meets and begins a secret romance with Cheri (Kinski), a lesbian art gallery worker. Terri feels satisfied with their lovemaking and enjoys the quiet of it compared with Jerry's performance. Meanwhile, Cary (Patric), a doctor friend of Barry's, is a devious and narcissistic sexual predator who picks up and seduces naïve and emotionally vulnerable young women, and quickly dumps them for his cruel pleasure of watching them cry. Aware of the distance between Barry and Mary, Cary tries to persuade Barry to leave his wife for the swinging, non- monogamous lifestyle that Cary has built for himself. Barry thinks that his marriage can be saved. During Jerry and Mary's rendezvous at a local hotel, Jerry fails to get aroused during foreplay. As a result, he takes out his frustrations on Mary, believing that she has made him impotent. Angry and offended by Jerry's misogynist outburst, Mary abruptly ends their "affair." She feels more miserable a few days later when Barry unwittingly takes her to the very same hotel room to rekindle their romance. Mary realizes that Jerry had told Barry about being in the room. Barry fails to understand Mary's unhappy attitude and thinks he might somehow be responsible for it. Jerry, Barry, and Cary get together to work out at the local gym and, in the steam room, Barry tries to get them to reveal their best sexual experiences. Barry tells them that he only feels satisfied with himself. Cary then tells a disturbing story about his best sexual experience: partaking in a gang rape where he and a group of friends forcibly sodomized a male high school classmate on the floor in the locker room at his boarding school when he was a teenager. Both Barry and Jerry are stunned but fascinated by Cary's sordid and evil story. When Barry tries to persuade Jerry to reveal his best sexual experience, Jerry refuses. After being goaded in the locker room, Jerry angrily responds that his best sexual experience was with Barry's wife. He then leaves, with Barry too stunned to respond. Cary, also caught off-guard, says: "that beats my story." After returning home from the gym, Barry confronts Mary over dinner about her affair with Jerry just as Terri accidentally finds out about Jerry's indiscretion after finding Mary's phone number in one of Jerry's playbooks. Mary and Jerry are both unapologetic for their unfaithfulness and express dissatisfaction to both of their spouses. Terri accidentally reveals her own lesbian romance with Cheri, but does not display any guilt for her infidelity. Jerry later confronts Cheri at the art gallery over his wife's affair with her. Cheri also shows no remorse or regret for her relationship with Terri, or with interfering with Jerry and Terri's troubled marriage. Cheri tells Jerry that Terri can do much better than being with him. As the film comes to an end, both of the married couples split up. Terri moves in with Cheri, although she quickly finds her emotional neediness irritating. Jerry continues his philandering lifestyle with his female theater students. Barry becomes miserable all by himself because he is no longer able to give himself an erection during masturbation. Mary is revealed to have moved in with Cary, who treats her as coldly as all the other women in his life even though she is pregnant with his child. The film closes on Mary and Cary in bed, as Mary realizes that she is even more unhappy in her new relationship with the catty and heartless Cary than she had been with her clueless husband Barry. 

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Set in Manhattan in the early 1940s, the film focuses on the relationship between Joseph Mitchell, a writer for The New Yorker, and Joe Gould, an aging, bearded, disheveled bohemian and Harvard University graduate who wanders through the streets of Greenwich Village carrying a tattered portfolio and demanding donations to "The Joe Gould Fund". At times Gould is calmly sweet and perceptive, at others he's a pathological liar and an obnoxious drunk, and he frequently experiences sudden outbursts of rage. Earning occasional financial support from poet E. E. Cummings, portrait painter Alice Neel, Village Vanguard founder Max Gordon, and art gallery owner Vivian Marquie, among others, Gould is able to secure a nightly room in flophouses until an anonymous benefactor arranges accommodations in a residential hotel for him. Gould allegedly is collecting the observations of average citizens to incorporate into his oral history of the world, fragments of which he has given to various people for safekeeping. Mitchell meets him in a coffee shop and initially is fascinated by the colorful character. However, with the passage of time, as Gould becomes irritatingly intrusive and demanding, disrupting the ordinary life Mitchell shares with his photographer wife and their two daughters, the journalist begins to question if the elderly man's 9 million-word opus actually exists or is merely a figment of his imagination. 

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Though a choppy story, with flashback narration filling in story gaps, this final story dealt with not one Ultraverse universe, but two; one universe where Black September (referred to as the Infinity Event within the story) took place, and a second universe, which was a Ultraverse little affected by any Marvel Comics influence. Long on dialogue and short on action, the story delivers a relatively happy ending for both universes. In a distopic future, a team of ultraheroes travel to an alternate Universe to try to avoid a crisis.Ultraverse Future Shock #1 (1997) Malibu Comics 

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Part One – Senator – 79–70 BC The book opens with Tiro, the secretary of Marcus Tullius Cicero and the book's narrator, looking back in time over the thirty-six years he was with his master. They met when he was twenty-four years old and Cicero twenty-seven on the family estate in the hills of Arpinum. Cicero decided to consult the leading teachers of rhetoric, most of whom lived in Greece and Asia Minor, and borrows Tiro, never to return him. After trying the so-called Asiatic method, Cicero decides to enroll in the school of Apollonius Molon, a lawyer from Alabanda, who had retired to Rhodes to open his rhetorical school. It is here that Cicero develops the physical physique and voice that will make him such a popular and effective orator. Returning to Rome and becoming a senator, Cicero participates in a year of obligatory government service in Sicily and makes his way back to Rome to seek his fame and fortune. The plot develops when the senator and lawyer is visited some months later by Sthenius of Thermae, who has fled from Sicily after being threatened by the Governor of Sicily, Gaius Verres. Cicero decides to defend him and raises the matter in the Roman senate but his motion is talked out by Catulus and finally Hortensius, an aristocrat, Cicero's arch rival and the leading lawyer in Rome. Cicero dispatches Tiro to the National Archive, Catulus's domain, to check Verres's quaestorian records as governor and finds no accounts submitted. In the meantime, Verres finds Sthenius guilty of spying in his absence and sentences him to death. Tiro arranges for a place to hide him – in one of his wife's garrets in the Roman slums – and a decision is made to appeal to the tribunes and a deal is made with Palicanus, one of Pompey's lackeys – Pompey the Great will assist over Sthenius if Cicero supports Pompey's consular ambitions. Gaius Verres, the pro-praetor of Sicily, sends his freeman Timarchides to search Cicero's house and Terentia, his wife, berates her husband to act. The next day Cicero, accompanied by Terentia and Quintus, his brother, makes a speech before the ten tribunes and Sthenius is safe as long as he remains in Rome. Crassus returns to Rome, victorious after his defeat of Spartacus and Cicero goes out to welcome him, following an invitation, on the Appian Way. However, the two men intensely dislike each other and Cicero refuses to support Crassus's request for a triumph. Pompey the Great also returns from Spain and strikes a bargain with Crassus: they will share the consulship and Cicero's career will soon end. Sthenius, who has been ignored for some time, turns up at the house one morning, accompanied by Heraclius and Epicrates who have also been swindled out of their estates by Verres. Over dinner one evening, Cicero declares his intention to stand for election as aedile and to accomplish it by prosecuting Gaius Verres for extortion, based on the accumulated evidence. Over the following months, Quintus acts as his campaign manager. Pompey is given his triumph. Gaius Verres returns to Rome. At the embezzlement court, chaired by Glabrio, Cicero submits his postulates, an application to prosecute. However, the court also receives a second application to prosecute Verres from Verres's quaestor, Caecilius Niger – a time delaying tactic by Hortensius and Cicero has to fight it out at the Temple of Castor and eventually wins against a biased jury, surprisingly supported by Catulus, the hard and snobbish old senator who is, nevertheless, a patriot to his marrow. Cicero is forced to borrow money from Terentia to support his case and leaves Rome on the Ides of January to seek evidence against Verres in Sicily. He, Lucius, his cousin, and Tiro gather a lot of incriminating evidence, particularly after a raid on the office of the tax collectors in Syracuse where they find out about the extent of Verres's extortion from a set of duplicate records (the originals have been removed) kept by Vibius, the financial director during Verres's term of office. On a visit to the stone quarries, they encounter crews of merchant ships imprisoned there that should have been captured pirates whom Verres had ransomed. Cicero has an argument with Metellus, the Governor, over his appropriation of the records but is allowed, under law, to make a fair copy of them and is supported by leading members of the city's most eminent men. On his return to Rome, Cicero discovers Hortensius hoping to tie up the extortion court's time until the consular elections. To fund his case and also his aedile election campaign, Cicero is obliged once more to borrow money from Terentia. At the first round of the elections, Cicero learns that Verres is bribing the voters with his immense wealth; Marcus Metellus also draws the election court as praetor. At his wit's end, Cicero pays a visit with Tiro to Pompey's house and a secret bargain is made. The second round of the aedile elections takes place on the Field of Mars Marcus Cicero is victorious against all the odds. His energies renewed, Cicero brings all this Sicilian witnesses to the extortion court, on 5 August in the consulship of Gnaeus Pompey Magnus and Marcus Licinius Crassus, and the trial of Gaius Verres begins. With only ten days to go until the games of Pompey the Great, Cicero follows Terentia's advice and makes a short, withering speech saying he will make his case in the space of ten days and his success is confirmed when the court hears of the case of a Roman citizen, named Herennius, beheaded by Verres because he knew of the Governor taking bribes from the pirates. On the last day, a Sicilian named Numitorius tells the story of Publius Gavius, flogged to death in public despite saying 'I am a Roman citizen' at every stroke of the lash. All that is left is to determine the fine. Verres disappears and Hortenius makes a written offer of one and a half million which Cicero and his team reject. However, Pompey pays a call to his house who orders them to accept it (it turns out Cicero had asked Pompey to ensure Glabrio, the judge of the extortion trial, remained independent) – Pompey himself does not want to be caught in the middle of a civil war between the people and the senate. Part Two – Praetorian 68–64 BC Cicero enjoys two years of success and happiness. In his thirty-ninth year he is looking forward to the elections for a praetorship. He maintains relations with Pompey and decides to take on the case of Marcus Fonteius, the former governor of Further Gaul who is being prosecuted for corruption. Cicero does it so that he can deal with the rumour that he supports foreigners above his own people and lay it to rest. Back in the extortion court he wins his case against the Gauls but is saddened by the death of his cousin, Lucius, whom Tiro knows commits suicide, as well as the death of his father. Whilst staying at the family farm, news arrives that Rome is threatened by pirates and Cicero is invited to attend a council of war held at Pompey's country estate. A plan is hatched to divide the Mediterranean into fifteen zones, with each zone to have its own legate, responsible for scouring his area clean of pirates and then to make treaties with the local rulers to prevent their return – all to report to one supreme commander, Pompey the Great. Knowing that the aristocrats will baulk at this concentration of power, Cicero persuades Pompey not to put his name anywhere on the bill setting up the supreme command and to leave it to the people to vote it to him. Rome is in a panic with the burning of Ostia by the pirates and when the Latin Festival finishes, Gabinius mounts the rostra to demand a supreme commander and at a meeting in the Senate Pompey's arrival is greeted with boos and jeering and Piso and the other aristocrats attack him for wanting to be a second Romulus in their determination to vote down the lex Gabinia. Back at Pompey's mansion there is a determination to prevent Crassus stealing Pompey's glory. Cicero's plan is to have Gabinius summon Pompey to the rostra the next day, asking him to serve as supreme commander, and to have Pompey reject it and then the people would demand he take it. Cicero writes his speech and Pompey makes his announcement to retire from public office. Crassus and Pompey are evenly matched against one another, with each having enough supporters to veto the bill if required. Crassus turns up at Cicero's house and suggests a joint supreme command, and offering to support Cicero for consul if he conveys the offer to Pompey but Cicero's rejects the proposal, despite being threatened by Crassus with suffering the same fate as Tiberius Gracchus. Tiro is dispatched once more to the National Archive to research Gracchus and Cicero learns that his agrarian reform law was vetoed by the tribune, Marcus Octavius, and Gracchus called upon the people to vote him out of office but was later beaten to death with sticks by the aristocrats and his body thrown into the Tiber. At a meeting at Pompey's house, Cicero reads out the extract from the Annals and it is decided to use the same precedent – although a dangerous one for the health of the republic – to get Pompey the supreme command. Gabinius oversees a vote although he is opposed by a fellow tribune, Trebellius, a supporter of Crassus, and so Gabinius puts it to the voters to vote him out of office. Catulus tries to intervene and Roscius tries to propose splitting the joint command but is ignored by Gabinus and the lex Gabinia is passed. Pompey later arrives in the forum wearing the paludamentum, the bright scarlet cloak of every Roman proconsul on active service, and leaves the city to tackle the pirates, not to return for another six years. Cicero is elected praetor and is allocated the extortion court. The lex Manilia is proposed, granting command of the war against Mithradates to Pompey, along with the government of the provinces of Asia, Cilicia and Bithynia, the latter two held by Lucullus, which is opposed by Catulus and Hortensius. Marcus Caelius Rufus, the son of a wealthy banker, becomes Cicero's pupil and brings him political gossip. Cicero is summoned to the house of Metellus Pius, pontifex maximus, and requested to prosecute Catilina over his extortion as governor in Africa. Turning down a governorship of a province and the lucrative money-making opportunities, Cicero opts instead to defend Caius Cornelius, Pompey's former tribune, who has been charged with treason by the aristocrats and the jury acquits him of all charges. Events take a turn for the worse when Publius Clodius Pulcher lays charges against Lucius Sergius Catilina for the crimes he committed in Africa and Cicero thinks about defending Catilina. Terentia gives birth to a baby boy named Marcus, much to the household's delight, and Cicero goes to Catilina's house once more and says he is so guilty he cannot be is advocate. Cicero leaves Rome to campaign amongst the people of Nearer Gaul for their vote in the consular election. He is assisted by and stays with the governor, Piso who tells him that the aristocracy are backing Antonius Hybrida and, on his return to Rome, learns that Hybrida and Catilina are planning to run on a joint ticket. He learns from his close friend, Atticus, that Crassus is attempting to hijack the election through bribery. Using two political agents, Ranunculus and Filum, he is eventually taken to a bribery agent, Gaius Salinator, who tells him under duress that he has been paid by Crassus to deliver votes for Hybrida and Catilina and that Crassus is attempting to buy eight thousand electoral votes at the cost of twenty million. Tiro is dispatched off to meet with Caelius Rufus, who is now working for Crassus, to find out what his plans are. Rufus, who dislikes Crassus intensely, agrees to hide Tiro in a secret alcove behind a tapestry during an important meeting. About twenty important men meet at Crassus’ house, including Caesar and Catilina, and on Tiro's return to Cicero they work together on his transcribed notes, finding out that the conspirators plan to seize control of the state, introduce a land reform bill, sell off vast amounts of conquered land abroad and then annex Egypt for further acquisition of land in Italy for the plebeians. It is Terentia's idea to Cicero to use the aristocrats to support him. A copy of the meeting's notes are sent to Quintus Hortensius Hortalus. Cicero makes a devastating attack on Mucius in the senate, calling him a whore for being paid to slander Cicero's reputation, and then goes on to indirectly attack Crassus for using bribery to reject an anti-bribery bill. Cicero then turns his attack on Catilina and, on returning home, has to wait for a reaction from Hortensius. He receives a message and is taken to Lucullus’ new house outside Rome, and Quintus Metellus, who tried to block Cicero's efforts in Sicily, is also present. They are suspicious of the meeting's notes but Tiro convinces them by recording their own conversation using his shorthand script and in the early hours of the morning a deal is struck between the 'new man' and the aristocrats. The next day is the consular election on the Field of Mars. On returning home Cicero informs Quintus of what has transpired, and Terentia is also supportive. Cicero puts on a splendid show with a large crowd of supporters and followers accompanying him on the parade and Hortensius comes up to him with a message which leaves Catilina and Hybrida confused as they know the two men are arch enemies. The aristocratic centuries have been instructed to switch their support from Catilina to Cicero and, despite Crassus’ vote purchase, the turnout is large enough to swing the election Cicero's way, and he is the outright winner for consul with 193 centuries, followed by Hybrida with 102. At the age of forty-two, the youngest age allowable to achieve the supreme imperium of the Roman consulship, the 'new man' has achieved his ultimate ambition. 

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Bill Higgins (Steven Cooke), a high school senior who longs to score a date with cheerleader Krissi (Lezlie Z. McCraw), discovers an alcoholic leprechaun in a beer bottle. The leprechaun, named Lepkey, must grant Bill three wishes before he's allowed to return to Ireland. Bill's wishes end up causing more trouble due to Lepkey's alcoholism and diminished magical skills. 

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Jennifer Tree is a rising fashion model. On an evening out alone, Jennifer is stalked and drugged. She wakes up in a cell containing personal items taken from her apartment. Jennifer is shown recordings of victims who were tortured in the same cell, as well as records of her interviews. She screams and pleads to be let go, but no one replies. Jennifer is subjected to various forms of psychological torture. She then discovers that a young man, Gary, is being held captive in an adjoining cell. The two make contact and attempt to find an escape. They both make it to a garage containing a vehicle, but are knocked out by sleeping gas. Jennifer wakes up in her cell, and sees a recording of Gary being threatened in his cell. Afterwards, he is thrown into her cell. She rushes over to help him, and they proceed to have sex. After Jennifer drinks a bottle of drugged water and falls asleep, Gary wakes up and leaves the cell. It is revealed Gary and his older brother, Ben, have Jennifer captive in their home; she is the latest of several women they have abducted to re-enact the tortures inflicted upon them as children by their mother. Gary joins Ben and tells him that he is falling in love with Jennifer, then stabs his brother. He watches recordings of him murdering their mother. Gary is interrupted by two detectives looking for Ben. Despite Gary telling them his brother is not home, the two enter the house. After they accidentally see the surveillance video of Jennifer in her room, Gary shoots them both. Gary goes back to Jennifer's cell and tells her that he has killed the perpetrators and they can leave. He places Jennifer in a room and tells her to stay there. One of the detectives, having survived the gunshot wound, jumps out at her. Mistaking him for her captor, she kills him with a baseball bat. She then discovers the incriminating photos with Gary in them. Ben, who survived the stabbing, attacks her, and she kills him as well. Jennifer searches through one of the detectives' pockets. Gary finds her and she says she will help him clean up the mess. When he lets down his guard, she sprays him with pepper spray and runs away, sabotaging the house's electrical system. Eventually, Jennifer successfully kills Gary. She uncovers a window leading outside and leaves. 

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The book is presented as a translation of an ancient Greek novel published in Athens just after the Peloponnesian War, complete with the extensive footnotes from the scholar performing the translation. In the ancient novel (which is itself called The Athenian Murders), a young ephebe named Tramachus is discovered on the slopes of Mount Lycabettus, apparently attacked by wolves. Diagoras, the boy's erastes and tutor at the Academy, enlists the help of a "Decipherer of Enigmas" (a detective named Heracles Pontor) to learn more about Tramachus's death. As Diagoras and Heracles investigate, more youths from the Academy are discovered brutally murdered. Their investigation takes them all over Athens, from mystery cult worship services to a symposium hosted by Plato. Meanwhile, the translator (who is never named) provides frequent commentary on the work, particularly as he believes it to be an example of a (fictional) ancient literary device called eidesis. "Eidesis" is the practice of repeating words or phrases so as to evoke a particular image or idea in the reader's mind, as if it were a kind of literary steganography. As the translator works on the novel, he concludes that the eidetic secret concealed within the novel is The Twelve Labors of Heracles, one labor for each of the twelve chapters of the novel. The translator becomes obsessed with the imagery, going so far as to see himself depicted within the ancient work. Partway through the novel, the translator is kidnapped and forced to continue the translation in a cell. His captor turns out to be the scholar Montalo, whose edition of The Athenian Murders is the only surviving copy of the work. Montalo himself had obsessed over the novel, hoping to find in it a proof of Plato's Theory of Forms. He felt that should an eidetic text, such as this novel, evoke the same ideas in each reader it would then prove that ideas have a separate, independent reality. However, Montalo finished the translation only to discover that the book proved the opposite—that the book proved his (and the translator's) reality did not exist. The translator finishes the work only to have the same realization: that they themselves are characters in The Athenian Murders, which was written by a colleague of Plato named Philotextus as a way to incorporate Plato's theory of knowledge while criticizing the philosophical lifestyle. 

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During the Korean War, Major Cleve "Iceman" Saville (Robert Mitchum), a veteran World War II fighter ace, returns to combat, eager to fly an F-86 Sabre fighter. His commanding officer, Colonel "Dutch" Imil (Richard Egan), assigns him command of a flight. Among his pilots is a new replacement, talented but brash Lieutenant Ed Pell (Robert Wagner). On his first mission, Pell abandons his element leader to go after a group of MiG-15s, and the other pilot is killed. As a result, Saville wants Pell assigned to someone else, but Imil overrules him. Pell was top of his class in flight school and Imil sees him as a younger version of Saville. If anyone can get Pell to grow up, it is the major. Another pilot under Saville's command, Lieutenant Carl Abbott (Lee Philips), poses a different kind of problem. He lacks confidence in his abilities; his worried wife Kristina (May Britt) asks Saville to watch over him. Saville falls in love with her, and vice versa. Aware of the situation, Abbott offers Saville a deal: his wife in return for the opportunity, if they should run into him, to go one-on-one with "Casey Jones", the most feared enemy ace. A disgusted Saville turns him down. Nevertheless, on a mission soon afterward, Abbott tangles with Casey Jones and is shot down behind enemy lines. Saville shoots down the enemy ace, then searches for Abbott. When he spots Abbott's parachute, Saville deliberately crash-lands his aircraft nearby, disobeying standing orders. He cuts the injured Abbott down from a tree, but they are immediately attacked by an enemy patrol. Pell strafes the enemy infantrymen, but they shoot him down and he joins his comrades on the ground. The trio then set out through enemy territory toward friendly lines. Along the way, they are assisted by a Korean Christian farmer (Victor Sen Yung) and his family. When an enemy patrol happens by, the Americans hide. However, in their haste, they leave behind a flight jacket, which is spotted. As a result, the family members are executed. Saville and Pell avenge them, ambushing and wiping out the patrol, but Saville is shot in the shoulder. Wounded, exhausted, and hungry, the three airmen finally reach the safety of UN lines. Afterward, Saville and Abbott convalesce in a military hospital. Abbott is to be transferred back to the U.S. to recuperate. His brush with death has changed his priorities; he remorsefully asks Kristina for another chance at their marriage. She decides to go with him. 

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The game's story revolves around an extraterrestrial mineral, Siberite, that can catalyze cold fusion and serve as fuel for an alien artifact. Siberite and the artifact – named EON – are discovered by an American expedition to Russia during World War I. EON is revealed to be a time machine capable of sending objects into the past, but by the time of the discovery, Siberite stocks are exhausted and research stops. Then in the new millennium vast deposits of the mineral are found in Siberia, and Americans are able to extract enough of it for small-scale time-travel. The U.S. comes up with a plan to send a small force two million years back in time. There it will mine the Siberite and transport it over the Bering Land Bridge to Alaska, into what will one day be in American hands. The best troops are selected, briefed, and told that it is a one-way trip back through time. This results in a new time line with the mineral located in Alaska and the U.S. being the only undisputed superpower thanks to the inexhaustible source of energy. Here the time machine wasn't found by the U.S. but the Russians instead. The Soviet Union fumes under American supremacy. Frustration turns to outrage when Soviet scientists find traces of American settlement and Alaskite, the source of U.S. power, in remote Siberia. A Soviet expedition is sent through the EON, here called TAWAR, to repel the American thieves and preserve what is rightfully theirs. The game story is freely based on the sci-fi novel The Last Day of Creation (1981) by Wolfgang Jeschke. 

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Julianna 'Juli' Baker meets Bryce Loski two weeks before the beginning of second grade. Though Juli believes she’s in love, Bryce is annoyed by her constant and persistent attention. In elementary school, Juli becomes preoccupied with saving her beloved sycamore tree from being cut down. She spends hours up in the tree, but her protest is foiled when she’s forcibly removed from her favorite perch. Unbeknownst to Juli, Bryce feels horrible about Juli's tree but doesn’t know how or if he should bring it up with her. Matters aren't helped when Bryce's grandfather takes a liking to Juli and starts pestering Bryce to be friends with her. Things with Juli start to change when Juli begins giving Bryce and his family weekly batches of chicken eggs from the hens she raises in her yard. Bryce’s family worries that because Juli’s yard has always been very messy the eggs may contain salmonella. Bryce's father tells him to stop accepting eggs from Juli, but rather than risk hurting Juli’s feelings, Bryce ends up throwing the eggs away every morning. Despite his efforts, Juli accidentally discovers what Bryce’s family thinks about her and her eggs. Her feelings for Bryce deteriorate even further when she overhears him talking to a classmate about her mentally challenged uncle. Juli, furious and hurt, decides to abandon every thought of Bryce. Bryce, meanwhile, has started to notice and like Juli more and more, especially after he finds an old article about Juli's protest for her tree. At a dinner party his family organizes, he attempts to explain to Juli that he wasn’t trying to make fun of her uncle, but she refuses to listen to his excuses. Bryce finally confronts Juli and attempts to kiss her at an auctioned lunch date both of them attend. Juli throws him off, mortified, and goes home to hide from Bryce’s attempts to contact her. Bryce makes a last attempt to win Juli’s heart by planting a sycamore tree in her backyard. When Juli realizes what he’s doing, she decides that he’s actually changed and decides to give him a second chance. 

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Conan, about forty in these stories, embarks on the most desperate gamble of his life — leading a revolution against King Numedides of Aquilonia, with the goal of making himself king in his place. From his low point as a treasure-seeking fugitive in the Pictish Wilderness, he is retrieved by allies from his days in the Aquilonian army to lead the revolt. The borderlands suffer grievously during the war, but in the end Conan takes the throne, only to suffer the customary uneasiness of the head that wears the crown, from an attempted assassination involving Stygian sorcerer Thoth-Amon to magical treachery on the battlefield as he strives to defend his hard-won kingship against predatory foreign powers. The Aquilonian civil war between Conan and Numedides is not actually depicted, but occurs offstage as background to the action of "Wolves Beyond the Border", Howard's only non-Conan tale set in the Hyborian Age. De Camp later made the war itself the subject of his novel Conan the Liberator, co- written with Lin Carter. "The Phoenix on the Sword", which Howard rewrote from an earlier Kull story, marks his only use of Thoth-Amon as an antagonist, in a somewhat peripheral role — he and Conan never even meet! In later stories, De Camp and Carter would later elevate the Stygian sorcerer into one of Conan's principal enemies. Howard later reused the plot of "The Scarlet Citadel" as the basis of his only Conan novel, The Hour of the Dragon (afterwards retitled Conan the Conqueror). Chronologically, the four short stories collected as Conan the Usurper fall between Conan the Warrior and Conan the Conqueror. 

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Bang is a story about an unnamed young woman living in Los Angeles, played by Darling Narita. It explores her transformation from being a victim to being in control, after a series of incidents which cause her to snap. 

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On a raining stormy night while traveling through rural Ireland on his way to Dublin, Porky Pig is caught in a storm and asks for lodgings at a nearby castle for the night, but the caretaker, Seamus O'Toole, tells him that no one inhabits the place but himself and the leprechauns. Porky dismisses the remark, tells the caretaker to "cut out this nonsense and take my bags to a room", and slams the front door, causing a mace above to fall. It strikes Porky on the head and knocks him unconscious. At that point, "O'Toole" is revealed to be a pair of leprechauns disguised as a human being. O'Pat, the first one, is very calm while O'Mike, the second one, quickly becomes frantic with fear that Porky is after their pot of gold. O'Pat, being the "Chief Leprechaun" in their area, convinces his partner that he knows how to deal with the pig. When Porky wakes up, he is helped to a room by the "reunited" caretaker who, during the short trip to the room, gets accidentally divided in two again when O'Pat walks along the stone railing of the stairs and goes off to the left as Porky and O'Mike go right. Porky, quite tired out by "all this excitement" doesn't notice the problem with his host, even handing him his coat, which O'Mike takes, and Porky tells him to just put the bags anywhere. Moving toward the bed, he meets "O'Toole" who asks him if he has seen his other half. Without thinking, he tells him it's by the door, O'Pat moves out of frame, and then it registers with Porky that he is in the presence of two leprechauns. Terrified, he hides in the bed, which is a trap door. The bed closes into the wall and Porky is dropped down a winding shaft until he lands in a witness chair in a leprechaun courtroom ("The Leprechaun Court of Shaughnessy Township, County of Rourke O'Houlihan"). There the leprechauns charge and convict him of trying to steal the pot of gold (despite having no substantial evidence against him); they sentence him to the wearing of the Green Shoes. At first, Porky appreciates them as nice shoes, but soon he realizes that they are cursed, as his feet begin a frantic Irish jig which makes O’Pat and O’Mike laugh at him. The shoes will not stop dancing; even when he removes them, they chase him and return themselves to his feet. He is "danced" through a nightmarish Salvador Dali-esque landscape filled with Irish icons until he falls in a boiling pot of gold. At this point, he wakes up, in a puddle of water, on the spot where he fell after being hit by the mace. "O'Toole" is standing over him with an empty bucket, implying he has dumped water over Porky to revive him. Porky screams, remembering that "O'Toole" is actually the two leprechauns, and leaps up to one of the posts that had been holding the mace. The caretaker tries to convince Porky that nothing has been amiss; Porky, frightened and disoriented, grabs his bags and runs away from the castle and into the distance stating he's late for an appointment with his psychologist. "O'Toole" watches him run, smoking his upsidedown pipe, and sporting a mischievous smile, shakes hands with himself (a hand that emerges from his trousers, clearly O'Mike) over a shamrock-shaped iris out. 

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Conan, now about thirty-one, survives a Turanian- involved trap which crushes his Zuagir raiders and seeks revenge on Vardanes of Zamora, their betrayer. Afterwards, he moves on to other adventures, killing a high priest in the cannibal-haunted city of Zamboula and ultimately gaining command of a band of Kozaki warriors in the service of Kobad Shah, king of Iranistan. In his final adventure, Conan once again encounters his old rival, Olgerd Vladislav, and predecessor as chief of the Zuagirs. Chronologically, the four short stories collected as Conan the Wanderer fall between Conan the Freebooter and Conan the Adventurer. 

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This cartoon is the first of a short series directed by Jones and using the characters of Marc Antony and Pussyfoot (Marc Antony's barks and grunts courtesy of an uncredited Mel Blanc). Marc Antony, a massive-chested bulldog, tries to intimidate a stray kitten with his ferocious barking and grimacing. Instead of being frightened, she climbs onto the dog's back and falls asleep in his fur. Despite wincing at her kneading, Marc instantly falls for the kitten and decides to adopt her, bringing her home with him. Upon his arrival, his human owner (voiced by Bea Benaderet), tired of picking up his things, orders him not to bring one more thing inside the house. As she reprimands him, Marc Antony discreetly hides the kitten under a bowl. Much of the cartoon centers on the kitten keeping several steps ahead of the dog, continually getting into things around the house. Each time she nearly alerts the dog's owner of her presence, he employs various tactics to hide or disguise her as common household items, including a powder puff, much to her confusion. After a while, Marc Antony takes the kitten into the kitchen and tries to reprimand her, but quickly forgets his anger when she tries to play with his wagging finger. But when he hears his owner walking toward the kitchen, he hastily hides the kitten in a flour canister and tries to look innocent. Growing tired of his antics, his owner ejects him from the kitchen and tells him to stay out while she bakes cookies. Marc Antony watches as his owner scoops out a cup of flour, and is horrified to see that the kitten is in the measuring cup. The lady pours the flour, along with the kitten, into a mixing bowl and prepares to use an electric mixer. The dog tries several times to thwart or distract her, finally spraying his face with whipped cream to make himself appear rabid. His exasperated owner sees through his disguise and throws him out of the house. Meanwhile, the kitten climbs out of the bowl and hides out of sight to clean herself up. Marc Antony, unaware that the kitten has escaped, can only watch in horror as his owner mixes the cookie batter, rolls out the dough, cuts it into shapes and places the cookies in the oven. At each phase of the process, the poor dog becomes increasingly distressed until he finally collapses in tears, literally crying a puddle of tears in the back yard. His mistress comes out a short time later and, believing he is crying over being disciplined, lets him back inside and tells him he has been punished enough. She attempts to console him by giving him a cookie in the shape of a cat. Stunned, Marc takes the cookie and places it on his back where the kitten had slept earlier, then collapses and bawls uncontrollably. The kitten then walks up and meows at him. Marc Antony, immediately overjoyed to see his friend alive, picks the kitten up and kisses her, then suddenly realizes that his owner is watching. He vainly tries to disguise the kitten like he did earlier, but then begs at his mistress's feet. To his surprise, she allows him to keep the kitten, sternly telling him that the kitten is completely his responsibility. At this realization, the dog once again wags his finger at her, but melts as the kitten plays with it and purrs at him. She climbs onto his back and settles in for a nap, and he tucks her in using his fur as a blanket. 

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When a tough Australian cop named Stoner (George Lazenby) discovers that his sister has overdosed on a deadly new drug called "The Happy Pill" (an aphrodisiac/hallucenogen mixture), he travels to Hong Kong to track down its creators. Along the way, he meets up with a beautiful secret agent (Angela Mao) who's on her own mission to investigate the same drug ring. 

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The film stars the familiar characters from the Finnish TV show The Autocrats (a political satire of Finnish politics) in a fairy tale where the inhabitants of a small Finnish village have to defend themselves against a despotic emperor. 

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In Ambermoon, the player plays as the grandson of the hero of Amberstar. The grandfather of the player explains at the beginning of the game that his presumed-dead companion spoke to him in a dream of a new threat to the land of Lyramion. He consequently sends the player on a journey to Newlake, where he can speak with his old companion. Those familiar with Thalion's games could find many connections to other games. The main character from Lionheart makes an appearance, as does the main enemy from Amberstar. By way of a dimensional gate, the player briefly enters the world from Thalion's previous game Dragonflight. 

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The 1940s English edition subdivides the book into seven major sections. 1\. Red Don or White Set in 1918, this section covers the initial opposition of the Don cossacks to the Bolsheviks, the effective surrender of many of them to Red forces, and then the growing discontent leading up to the Upper Don province revolting. In Tatarsk, the Melekhov family decide not to retreat with the White cossacks, but Mikhail Koshevoi and other communists begin purging the village of wealthier Cossacks. Piotra is protected by his old military comrade Yakov Fomin, now a Red leader, but Gregor is forced to flee to escape arrest. 2\. The Cossacks Rise The Don cossacks rise in response to the executions. Piotra Melekhov, leading the local squadrons, advances against the Reds but is outmaneuvered, captured and ultimately shot by Mikhail Koshevoi. The rebels effectively form their own soviet-style government, though they accept some logistical support from the Whites, who are fighting on the Donietz. Grigor becomes a division commander, holding Kargin against the Red forces, but is often appalled at his own side's actions, letting a number of family members of Red soldiers out of prison in Vieshenska. Mikhail Koshevoi becomes part of the Serdobsky regiment, and narrowly escapes when the men all defect to the rebels; his fellow communist Stockman is killed. Ivan Alexievich, a communist cossack from Tatarsk, is captured and driven through different villages with other prisoners being brutalised by crowds, before coming to Tatarsk and being shot by Piotra's widow Daria. 3\. Retreat and Advance In May 1919, the Red government pushes harder against the Don rebels, and they fall back to guard one side of the Don, leading all the fighting-age cossacks (Pantaleimon Melekhov included) to leave Tatarsk and guard a position on the other side of the river. Gregor works to keep order among the front, including forcing his own father not to desert, and his lover Aksinia moves to his camp opposite Vieshenska. Whilst the Melekhov men are on the other bank of the Don, Mikhail Koshevoi visits Tatarsk to remind Ilinicha, Gregor's mother, that he intends to marry her daughter Dunia; whilst there, he murders Grishaka, an elderly relative of Natalia's, and burns the houses of seven wealthier cossacks including the village priest. Eventually, the Reds retreat under pressure from advancing White forces. 4\. The Shadows Fall The Whites reach the insurgent army; Gregor's men link up with them as they push towards Ust-Miedvieditsa, but Gregor clashes with the White officer Fitzhelaurov, who treats him as a mere cossack with contempt despite their near-equivalent commands. He continues commanding his men for a while, but is eventually reduced in rank in favour of more upper class officers. Mitka Korshunov, a Tatarsk White cossack, returns with the Kalmyk regiments who are used for punitive actions, and kills the Koshevoi family in Mikhail's absence. The White general Sidorin comes to Tatarsk and provide medals and money to the women, in an attempt to drum up support for the war effort. Piotra's widow Daria is initially happy to have the money, as she has a disease, but she then discovers that it is syphilis and cannot be cured. She starts contemplating death, and admits to Natalia, Gregor's wife, that she assisted him in renewing his relationship with Aksinia. Natalia confronts Aksinia, who admits everything. Angry at Gregor, Natalia resolves not to have his third child, which she has just discovered herself to be pregnant with. The attempt to abort the pregnancy goes badly wrong, giving Natalia severe internal bleeding and causing her death. Gregor briefly returns to Tatarsk before returning to his new regiment; Daria drowns herself in the Don ten days after he leaves. 5\. Flight to the Sea Late in the summer of 1919, Pantaleimon is mobilised, but deserts rapidly. The Red overall strategy changes (this is attributed to Stalin), seeking to push through the Donbass area rather than the Don province, cutting the Whites' Volunteer Army off from their Cossack forces: by November this plan works, forcing the Volunteers to withdraw south, exposing the Cossacks' left flank and ultimately forcing them to retreat too. Gregor returns home with severe Typhus, from which he slowly recovers. The retreat reaches Tatarsk, and Pantaleimon and Gregor go by different routes. Gregor travels with his old orderly, Prokhor Zykov, and Aksinia, though he is forced to leave the latter behind when she becomes ill. On arriving at one village he finds that Pantaleimon has died, and buries him. Gregor falls ill himself, and Prokhor nurses him as they travel into the Kuban region, ultimately arriving in Novorossisk. There, the Whites are boarding ships and fleeing to the Crimea or to Turkey; Gregor and the other Cossacks are unable to get a place on a ship. Deciding not to attempt flight to Tbilisi, Gregor stays, and the section ends as the Reds close in on the port. 6\. Home At Last Aksinia returns home to Tatarsk, having recovered, and grows closer to the remaining Melekhovs out of their shared concern for Gregor. Mikhail Koshevoi returns too, and marries Dunia against her mother's wishes. Ilinicha for her part grows increasingly mad waiting for news of Gregor. It eventually transpires, when Prokhor Zykov (who has now lost an arm) returns, that he is now fighting for the Reds with Budionny's cavalry, and helping them win significant victories in the Ukraine. Gregor sends a letter which Ilinicha and Aksinia read numerous times to each other; Ilinicha dies before Gregor returns. Mikhail Koshevoi becomes the village's chairman, and is increasingly inflexible and defensive of the Red government's actions, as well as fearing for his life after he confronts and shoots at a cossack he suspects of White sympathies. Gregor finally returns having been demobilised - despite his military heroics, he cannot escape suspicion for his previous actions fighting for the insurgents and then the Whites, and found the Reds just as mistrustful of him as the Whites had been. Mikhail and Gregor are now implacable enemies, as the former suspects the latter of White sympathies. Gregor is forced to report to the Political Department in Vieshenska - where Piotra's old comrade Yakov Fomin warns him that former White officers are being rounded up. A few days later, as men from Vieshenska come to arrest him, Gregor flees with help from Dunia and Aksinia. 7\. The Fugitive Gregor wanders for a while, as in late 1920 supply shortages cause increasing tension in the region and armed bands spring up to oppose the grain requisitioning units. Eventually, Fomin himself attempts a revolt in Vieshenska, but the Communists maintain control of the machine-guns and his rising fails. Fleeing with his men, Fomin becomes a self-styled freedom fighter, though in practice he is little more than a bandit. Gregor joins him in preference to spending his life in hiding or prison, often clashing with him to prevent Fomin's men looting indiscriminately. Fomin's first band is wiped out, but after a long patch in hiding in the spring of 1921 he starts a second. Gregor eventually leaves Fomin and resolves to try and flee south with Aksinia, and hopefully start a new life there. As he and Aksinia try to flee southwards on horseback, though, they are shot at by some guards - Aksinia is hit in the base of the neck, killing her rapidly. After burying her, Gregor stays with some deserters camping in the woods for a while, before finally deciding to return to Tatarsk, symbolically throwing his rifle and pistol into the Don at last. On reaching there, he finds Dunia absent, Koshevoi gone to a military unit, and his daughter Poliushka a while since dead with pleurisy. The book ends with him holding his son Mikhail's hands in his own, outside the gate of the Melekhovs' old house, with the comment that these are the only things that life has left to him. 

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All Night Long was set in a bakery in London, and showed the employees working during the night to prepare the bread for local hotels and cafés. Bill Chivers, who owned the business, had learnt bakery while in prison for armed robbery, and was determined to be a law abider. He employed Vanda, a Romanian, Scottish Tom and Courtney who was given a job after breaking into the bakery in the first episode. Clare was a disabled crime writer, who was inspired by the bakery, Wally was a cab driver and PC Digby and WPC Jackson were the local police officers. 

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The novel is set in the northern Manitoban forests and in the Barrens to the north. Jamie, Awasin, and Peetyuk divide their time between studying with Jamie's uncle, Angus Macnair, and trapping in the woods. When the Chipeweyan camp nearby succumbs to deadly influenza, the boys help with supplies and nurse the survivors, while Angus travels south in search of medical help. However, Angus contracts pneumonia on the journey and is hospitalized. Jamie is anxious both to obtain money for Angus's treatment and to avoid being placed with Child Welfare. He prepares to return to the Viking tomb he discovered (in Lost in the Barrens) which he believes may contain valuable archaeological relics. The boys and Awasin's sister, Angeline, set out to the still frozen north by dog sled and cariole and eventually meet up with Peetyuk's people, with whom they stay until the thaw. They realize that the Ihalmiut are struggling to survive, and so they decide that most of the profits from the grave should go to help them. The medicine man tells them the story of the heroic Viking known as Koonar and claims that a curse will descend on anyone who disturbs his rest. Defying the curse, Jamie uncovers a sword, a soapstone box, and other ancient pieces. Planning to take the artifacts to Churchill, the travelers set out again, this time by canoe, and brave the treacherous Big River which leads to Hudson Bay. 

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Di, known as 'Big D', runs a large textile company called Garsley Garments and also is the manager of the local rugby league team. Always at the bottom of the league, she renames the team Frilly Things and sets about reviving their fortunes. 

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The Prologue is set in "A place once designed for spectacle, now only a shell of its former self." Mercure, messenger of the Gods, questions the Muses to find out why their spirits are downcast. Melpomene replies that the king (i.e. Louis XIV), in his desire for conquest, has plunged the country into war and ignored the Muses and their feasts. The other Muses agree and add: "he does not approve of anything we do; we are not worthy in his eyes." Mercure interrupts and insists that they put aside worry and concentrate on the charming spectacle to be performed before them. The scene is transformed, "as though its former glory had been restored." The Muses agree to pay careful attention to the forthcoming play and to try especially hard to enjoy it despite their misgivings. Jupiter descends and urges their particular contemplation of the Greek hero, Achille. The Muses agree and await the tale of the invincible Achille and his famous battles. Act I opens on the Isle of Tenedos, Achille's refuge after a quarrel with Agamemnon. Patrocle asks Achille if Hector's bravery in past battles has made him jealous. Achille responds that only the losses sustained by the Greeks give him pleasure: Agamemnon, king of the Greeks, is the focus of his rage. In a rousing aria ("Je cours asseurer ma memoire"), Patrocle declares that he will defeat Hector. Achille, though concerned for his friend's safety, agrees, saying, "if your heart is strong, so too will be your arms." After Patrocle exits, Achille, left alone, entreats the gods to protect his friend in a moving soliloquy. Diomede approaches and announces that without Achille's help, the Greeks will not overcome the Trojans. Achille insists that he is happy here, out of contact with the quarrelsome Greeks. Diomede chastises the hero, suggesting that his bravery is shallow and that he loves vain pleasure. Venus and the Graces, descending from the heavens, remind Achille of the pleasure he experienced with them when he was not in battle. The act concludes as Arcas rushes in to announce that Patrocle is dead. Achille swears vengeance on Hector in an impassioned aria ("Manes de ce Guerrier, dont je pleure le sort"). Act II takes place in a Greek camp on the eve of battle with the Trojans. Diomede is certain that, with Achille's help, the Greeks under Agamemnon will be victorious. Agamemnon remains uncertain and, seeing the advancing Achille, decides to move back. A chorus of soldiers sing the praises of the victorious Achille. Arcas assures the Trojan prisoners that Achille is not without compassion--hope should replace their fears. King Priam of Troy, his daughter Polixene and his daughter-in-law Andromaque conspire to soften Achille's heart. Each appeals to Achille with stories of their losses suffered in the war with Greece. But it is the beautiful Polixene who breaks Achille's heart with her moving aria, "Vous le sçavez, Dieux que j'atteste!" The great warrior pledges eternal peace with the Greeks. The Act III curtain rises on Achille's camp. Achille confesses his love for Polixene to Arcas, who reminds the hero that his original intent was to avenge their dead friend Patrocle. Achille counters that it is only Hector who deserves his wrath; the rest of the Trojans are not to blame. Agamemnon enters and also questions Achille's allegiance. Achille reminds him that it is for Patrocle, not the Greeks, that he engaged the Trojans. Agamemnon, realizing that Achille has fallen in love with the enemy princess, introduces the great hero to Briseis, a Greek princess whom he hopes will win Achille back to the side of the Greeks. Briseis confides to Achille the story of her capture and the loss of all she loved. Achille, as gallantly as possible, explains that he cannot love her. Furious, Briseis calls on the goddess Juno to avenge her broken heart. Juno accepts and promises that before the day is over, Briseis will see the result of her request. The act concludes with a chorus of shepherds offering thanks for the peace established by the "generous conqueror." Priam's Palace provides the setting for Act IV. Polixene, alone and confused, questions the wisdom of marrying Achille, so recently the enemy of her people. She resigns herself to the inevitable, however, and awaits the ceremony. Andromaque, recognizing Polixene's despair, tries to comfort the bride-to-be, swearing "I will make my fidelity [to you] as famous as his [Achille's] glory." Priam enters and calls for his subjects to begin the wedding celebrations. Choirs of Trojans sing the praises of the beautiful princess and the heroic conqueror. Act V takes place in Apollo's temple. As the Act opens, Achille asks his new bride why she turns away from him when he approaches. She replies, "the more I see you, the more I am troubled." Priam enters before the troops of Greeks and Trojans and commands that everyone, for the sake of peace, should surrender himself to love. He charges the lovers to swear an oath of tender and devoted love. Briseis is beside herself with anger when she witnesses the marriage of Achille and Polixene. She demands to know why Juno has not exacted revenge. The chorus of Greeks warn Achille to flee a certain death. He is struck down and Arcas rushes to his side, blaming the Trojan Paris for the treasonous act. Briseis allies herself with Polixene and swears that she will lead the forces to avenge Achille's death. Polixene sends everyone away, and, in "C'en est fait," a grief-stricken soliloquy, declares that she is unable to live without her husband. The opera ends with her suicide. 

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The piece begins with the view of the Wayne Enterprises building to which Bruce Wayne is gazing out the window during a party. He's pulled to the dance floor by three lovely young ladies. Each has her turn before Alfred rescues Bruce, who dives into a nearby elevator. When he reaches his office, he sees none other than Catwoman at the safe, looting it. Catwoman pins Bruce to the wall while she finishes robbing the safe, and makes her escape. Bruce breaks free, and heads after her as Batman. He finds her on the rooftops, and the chase begins. She dives several dozens stories below into busy traffic, breaking her fall with a banner and swinging onto a tour bus. She poses for some pictures until Batman arrives, taking most of the publicity away from her. Batman and Catwoman. They jump on a milk truck tanker and Catwoman blows the tires out. The truck spins off, and Batman pursues after her, ignoring the truck dumping gallons of milk on a couple of stray cats, as well as onto Harvey Bullock. Then, they jump on a train, where, while going into a tunnel, Batman loses Catwoman, only to see her trail leading into a zoo. Expectedly, she had detoured through the Large Cats exhibit and leaves Batman. He escapes through the sunroof while Catwoman runs into an aviary to be chased out by a colony of bats. She is then cornered by Batman against the gates of the zoo. She notices he was scratched earlier, and leans to kiss him. Batman pushes her away, and she appears hurt. Batman then sweeps her into his arms and kisses her. The police arrive, and Catwoman looks around, concerned. She pushes at Batman to leave. Batman then slowly smiles at her. He takes the bag of money and leaves. Catwoman smiles, thinking she's been let off the hook, only to find herself handcuffed to the fence. She falls to the ground, despondent, then looks up in quiet rage. A remorseful Bruce Wayne looks through the window at the party, again, watching police cars fly past below. Then, a lady who bears a striking resemblance to Catwoman's alter ego Selina Kyle grabs his arm and pulls him back to the party. Note: Black Canary makes a cameo appearance 42 seconds into the silent film. 

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